Town Hall and Grand Emporium Retired!

broken_mop

Today, I called like 15 Lego stores in the US. None of them has Town Hall in stock. 7 stores told me Town Hall and Grand Emporium were officially retired together and they will not be getting any of them in the future.

I already got Grand Emporium, but still need Town Hall.

Anyone know if they will be back in stock on Lego.com in the future?

luckyruss

No, they are, like, retired.

Matthew

I know brand store staff have been known to give unreliable information, but did you really expect a different answer on here than that given by the 15 stores you called?

broken_mop

Matthew said:

I know brand store staff have been known to give unreliable information, but did you really expect a different answer on here than that given by the 15 stores you called?

I'm hesitating whether to buy one from amazon or ebay now or just keep waiting. Now Town Hall is like 300+ bucks on amazon and ebay.

LostInTranslation

They're not going to get cheaper if they've retired. Which, by all accounts, they have.

Legoboy

TH is discontinued but the odd set continues to filter through to the stores. It might be worth checking stores every day now that they are receiving their Christmas deliveries daily - you never know. However, the longer you leave it the closer it gets to Christmas and the higher the aftermarket prices will be.

Venunder

Is Amazon Europe no longer shipping to the UK ?
or is this the Christmas embargo?

GIR3691

Wait until after the holidays to shop for one on the aftermarket. Prices will be lower.

Farmer_John

^I'm not confident that they will be lower. In fact, they may go higher once it finally sinks in that these sets are indeed gone for good.

LegobrandonCP

Oops... the TH was next on my modular list.

cheshirecat

So glad I have no interest in modulars. Actually I have a used GE with box if anyone wants one.

Jern92

Glad I got both of them in time. They're still sitting in their boxes waiting to be built, although my GE's seal came open. It came directly from Lego so fingers crossed nothing's missing.

CCC

What is Town Hall? Isn't it called TH?

LeonC

Just broke the seals and started building my TH last night - very liberating :-)

pharmjod

If Town Hall is gone, and I believe it is on its way out, I doubt very seriously that prices will ever again be as low as where they are today. I'm not saying that to encourage someone to spend over MSRP on it as it has been popping in and out at most the major online retailers off and on for the past couple of weeks. Good luck getting one there though. If you want it, I'd be trying to snag one when it comes in or look for a price that you can stomach elsewhere.

Phonebooth

can we just merge this thread into the predictions thread and be done with it?

squarebear47

Is this the shortest run for a modular yet? Glad I grabbed mine awhile ago.

SuperTramp

I don't have one either but im hoping somewhere down the line someone doesn't have a GE that a can swap.

TheBrickLadd

^Same... :)

Pitfall69

SuperTramp said:

I don't have one either but im hoping somewhere down the line someone doesn't have a GE that a can swap.

GE kinda caught people off guard, but TH definitely caught people off guard. I would think that a person would have GE before TH anyway. Might be difficult for an even swap though. TH was more expensive and I'm assuming was not stockpiled like GE.

Farmer_John

^I agree if you're only looking at the prices, but desperate people do desperate things to minimize the pain of finishing a collection. None of the trades I've done with Brickset members were exactly parity, but I know I was happy with the outcome.

ericqqaazz

My friend just received a letter from LEGO today saying that they are not making the Town Hall and Grand Emporium Sets any more. It is an official answer for the retiring question. Therefore, If you don't have one, must buy one asap :)

Oldfan

I'm frankly amazed that GE lasted as long as it did; obviously it was a very popular set. TH is the next-oldest Modular on the market (Palace Cinema and Paresian Restaurant are newer), and I'm not too shocked that TLG is only keeping the two newest Modulars in production.

Renny

^ Don't forget about the Pet Shop.

Matthew

I recently picked up the Pet Shop assuming that it would be the next to go so I'm fairly annoyed that the Town Hall overtook it!

Oldfan

Wow, Pet Shop is not retired yet? Any bets on when that one goes away?

CCC

ericqqaazz said:

My friend just received a letter from LEGO today saying that they are not making the Town Hall and Grand Emporium Sets any more. It is an official answer for the retiring question. Therefore, If you don't have one, must buy one asap :)

Who sent it? Customer services?

Why did they send it? Did he have an order cancelled, or did he ask "can I buy this set?"

TheBrickLadd

Matthew said:

I recently picked up the Pet Shop assuming that it would be the next to go so I'm fairly annoyed that the Town Hall overtook it!

I did the same. I do however have a spare GE and would trade it with some money from me to get a TH.

mathew

I think it's safe to say that Town Hall will go down as the first dud modular. They should have really kept the $150 price point. Especially with the no discount policy. I bet even the Parisian Restaurant sells less because of it being ten bucks more.

theLEGOman

I've got a Grand Emporium and Haunted House out the way till the time is right.

Poochy

mathew said:

I think it's safe to say that Town Hall will go down as the first dud modular. They should have really kept the $150 price point. Especially with the no discount policy.

To be fair, TH was released before the policy was put in place. It went as low as $120 from that WM once-in-a-lifetime-modular fire sale, and I believe could be regularly found for around $150-$160 before the policy took effect. The $200 did not help afterward though.

jasor

I didnt get one. It was on the list, but TLG EOL'd it ahead of my budget. There was opportunity to get it, but I had other modulars to catch up. It wasnt high up on the list, and the worst-case scenario happened. The obsessive collector in me regrets it, but the the practical logistic part in me says, "You gambled with a less-than-favorite set for this very reason." I slept well last nite.

*ONLY regret --- Not having a clock tower for BTTF. That's about it. Well, and the design of the Delorean....but that's a completely different monster.

Farmer_John

Poochy said:

To be fair, TH was released before the policy was put in place. It went as low as $120 from that WM once-in-a-lifetime-modular fire sale, and I believe could be regularly found for around $150-$160 before the policy took effect. The $200 did not help afterward though.

Yep...it's a poor assumption to believe that the cheapest time to pick up a set is just before they EOL. The best approach is to prioritize your list and purchase accordingly based on interest and price. If a significant price drop happens to occur, than perhaps a re-prioritization may be necessary.

CircleK

jasor said:

I didnt get one. It was on the list, but TLG EOL'd it ahead of my budget. There was opportunity to get it, but I had other modulars to catch up. It wasnt high up on the list, and the worst-case scenario happened. The obsessive collector in me regrets it, but the the practical logistic part in me says, "You gambled with a less-than-favorite set for this very reason." I slept well last nite.

*ONLY regret --- Not having a clock tower for BTTF. That's about it. Well, and the design of the Delorean....but that's a completely different monster.

Sums up my feelings exactly. I had a billion opportunities to buy the TH (even at discount) and never did b/c at the end of the day - I didn't *really* want it. It was just something on my radar for completion sake which is a habit I'm trying to break. It's gone. I'm glad it's gone. The unexpected departure just saved me $200.

I honestly never caught the Modular bug though. GG is greatness, PS and PR get honorable mentions, and the rest are just whatever. I do have high hopes for the upcoming DA though.

Legoboy

mathew said:

I think it's safe to say that Town Hall will go down as the first dud modular.

A dud today but I'm willing to bet it becomes one of the most sought after Modulars tomorrow.

jasor

I liked the look of GE and FB...those were my priorities, and got both of them. I know GE is lamented sometimes, but it looks good to me. PR is a solid win, PC is my new TH, and cant wait for DA!

Faedian7

Glad I picked up TH when I did (Oct 1). I've just been going down the line on modulars from oldest to newest in buying whenever I can get a double points promo. PC will be next on the list.

SirKevbags

Am I one of the few that enjoyed building the Town Hall then? While it's a waste once built because I don't play with them, I loved the build variation of the interior, so for me definitely no dud.

indigobox

I am with @SirKevbags‌. I enjoyed the build. In fact I love building all my modulars.

hoyatables

I loved the Town Hall as well. I spend a fair amount of my day at city hall, and it is fun to pretend.

squarebear47

I liked the TH build too. 3 floors, decent detail/furniture, and a fairly unique and creative facade. I would rank it above GE and on par w/PC. FB, PS, and PR are all hard to compete with. Holy cow. I feel like I'm speaking in a different language!

BuriedinBricks

GE was my first modular, so it will always hold a special place for me. That said, I like the look of the GG and FB far more.

I have a TH and it looks good, but I do agree the price tag probably seriously hampered sales.

mathew

Town Hall might be the first casualty of Lego's no discount policy. $200+ tax for most people is a lot. Would be interesting to see a sales chart on this one from the time it was released. I bet sales dropped dramatically after the policy went into effect.

Paperballpark

For me, TH was easily better than GE. Fortunately I now have all the modulars (except CC and MS, neither of which I'm bothered about).

Need to get a PS at some point for my mum though...

yys4u

Ugh sad I didn't get it. It was always next on my list for modulars but wanted some discount. Tried to get it in October, went to the LEGO store a handful of times looking for that and the Research institute set but couldn't find either. Scared the completest in me is going to end up paying a lot more than MSRP for it soon...

msanders

I really really enjoyed building the TH. Its difficult to compare with the other modulars because it is very different, however, I prefer it compared to GE for example. I was very lucky and picked it up for around 30% off with the Pixmania sale around this time last year.

Dad

Legoboy said:

mathew said:

I think it's safe to say that Town Hall will go down as the first dud modular.

A dud today but I'm willing to bet it becomes one of the most sought after Modulars tomorrow.

And I thought I'd done ok when I had 2 from [email protected] sent straight away when they were on back order only to open the box and find two Tower Bridges instead. Why does it always happen to me @Legoboy ?

BTW No reply required!!!!!

Legoboy

@Dad, you can have one anyway. ;o)

In your position, I don't know what I'd rather - a £150 Tower Bridge or a £150 Town Hall.

madforLEGO

Yeah, I saw THs being picked up a couple of weekends ago at the LEGO store when I picked up the RI, but that was the latest I saw them and the store by me did not even have them on the shelf they were grabbing them from the back to those who asked or reserved one
My guess is that GE, TH, HH, and, RI are really gone for good.

sklamb

Oddly enough, when I decided I only wanted one red-brick Modular, which meant choosing between getting a FB and a TH, I decided to pass on FB; TH seemed better value for money and I never liked the fire truck very much. I probably won't get PC either (I did buy its two sticker sheets on BrickLink and here)--I'm MOCing a modular-like version of the art deco style Cinema from Town Plan instead. While I haven't taken TH out of its box yet I definitely don't regret my choice. (And I did get a set of the mini-modulars, so I do have a version of FB after all!)

natro220

madforLEGO said:

Yeah, I saw THs being picked up a couple of weekends ago at the LEGO store when I picked up the RI, but that was the latest I saw them and the store by me did not even have them on the shelf they were grabbing them from the back to those who asked or reserved one
My guess is that GE, TH, HH, and, RI are really gone for good.

Dumb question, but what is RI? Sorry...all these acronyms are getting hard to keep straight...