In a cheeky ceremony paying homage to England’s iconic changing of the guard, MINI recently handed over the key to the new retail shop to Jan-Christiaan Koenders and Chris Collet, The Netherlands’ BMW and MINI Group Directors respectively. The store opens to the public this Saturday and features a full breadth of items from MINI’s lifestyle accessories catalog. Unlike the traditional Queen’s Guard, these fuzzy-hatted soldiers were all smiles.

It’s not a dealership, but rather an embassy for motoring. MINI is the first and only automaker to open a brand store in the Netherlands, featuring merchandise well rooted in the brand’s iconic British roots. With both car accessories and lifestyle items on the shop floor, visitors can even configure the MINI of their liking on a big screen inside. This first store in Amsterdam is a pilot store for shops that could open up around the world. Will a MINI brand store make its way into the Mall of America any time soon? Probably not.

[Source: MINI]