RETAILKristian Imhof,
RETAILKristian Imhof, LEGO Group MiddleEast and Africa General Manager.
Inviting more people intolearning through playRETAILWhen a new LEGO store opened in Cape Town, Opportunity sat down with Kristian Imhof, the company’sMiddle East and Africa General Manager, to talk about the multi-generational popularity of the toy bricksand what the LEGO Group is doing about sustainability.The concept of learning through play was front and centrewhen the V&A Waterfront LEGO Certified Store opened inCape Town in 2024.The company’s Middle East and Africa GeneralManager, Kristian Imhof, was on hand to celebrate the occasionand underlined the education theme when he said, “The new LEGOCertified Store in Cape Town underlines our commitment to SouthAfrica and inviting more people into learning through play.”The famous brand name is derived from a combination of twoDanish words meaning “play well” and the connection betweenlearning and playing has been made ever since it was founded inthe Danish town of Billund in 1932. At the opening to demonstratethe power of play were representatives of the Cape Town-basedPlay Sense School and the Care for Education organisation, an NPOthat is a partner of the LEGO Foundation. Both Shannon Wittenof Play Sense School and Brent Hutcheson stressed the benefitsof the tactile experience. Care for Education’s Hutcheson added,“LEGO play encourages creativity and problem-solving in children,empowering them to explore, learn and unleash their imaginationthrough simple yet impactful play.”Imhof worked in South Africa from 2017 to 2021, withresponsibility for Sub-Saharan Africa. For a long time LEGO setswere available through general toy shops in South Africa, thetrademark having been registered as early as 1976. “Our LEGOshops began in 2018,” remembers Imhof, “and we opened six in sixyears.” A first Cape Town store opened in 2019 in Canal Walk.Of the Waterfront store, Imhof says, “We always wanted tobe here but it is super-hard to find a space. It is one of the mostreputable malls, and the numbers are very good.” Opening newstores depends on finding the right location, something that the toymanufacturer’s South African partner, Great Yellow Brick Company,is constantly on the lookout for. Great Yellow Brick Company ownsall six of the South African stores and it runs an online store.Imhof reports that the group does own some stores in the USA,Germany, the UK and the Nordic countries but the licence modelis followed in most of the world. In other African locations suchas Kenya and Nigeria, partnerships are mainly with distributors,rather than stores.The LEGO Group currently has no plans to build a LEGO Landin Africa but something within a shopping centre like a LEGODiscovery Centre might well be on the cards. Imhof refers in thiscontext to a “smaller, structured play” environment.The new V&A WaterfrontLEGO Certified Store.Kristian Imhof, Shannon Witten, teacher and owner of Play SenseSchool in Cape Town, Brent Hutcheson from the Care for Educationorganisation, Robert Greenstein, Great Yellow Brick Company director.www.opportunityonline.co.za | 17
