Town Hall and Grand Emporium Retired!

maniac

#21110 Research Institute

natro220 said:

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...

piratemania7

If anyone wants a GE brand new sealed and great condition and has a TH same condition and wants to trade PM me I'm happy to make it happen. : )

andyscouse

SirKevbags said:

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.

Yes, I loved it - and once I had built it, I got a 2nd to make my Expanded TH, 4 storeys high, wider, taller, deeper! Looks great! Loved TH.

andyscouse

@natro220‌
RI = Research Institute (an Ideas set)

gmonkey76

I fortunately got the town hall in October with double points. Went to the store but they were out, but was able to get online. While it's not my favorite modular I like it, and even named the man Mayor West. I don't think it should be any surprise that a set that came out in 2012 is now retired.

LegobrandonCP

The TH was the more expensive set (especially in Canada) so I was holding out for it. Maybe not for a sale, but something like double VIP or a free gift with purchase.

But surprisingly, I'm not too disappointed for missing that one. I guess I just saved myself $250.

My modular line would look a lot better with the full collection, but I already don't have the CC, GG and MS.

zipsforbananas

I got properly caught out by these two retiring too, I noticed when I was in a Lego shop on Monday, someone was buying a GE and there were none of it or TH left on the shelf.
I confirmed it on here and thankfully got a GE on eBay hours later for only £95 buy-it-now without the box. Still hoping I can get a TH before the retired set effect sets in for good! I'm not expecting much though.

@gmonkey76‌ - It is a big surprise that a set from 2012 is being retired in this line where GE lasted 4 years, I think FB was similar and PS will now go for at least that long. It's quite a surprise that TLG would retire two modular sets at the same time, and it's an even bigger surprise that TH would be retired before PS which came out a year before it!
PS was my first modular and I had half an eye on GE knowing it would be the next to retire. But TH is a complete shock! I thought with having bought PS first once I got GE I could relax for a while before getting TH.
Call me crazy but I assumed they'd retire in the same order they came out! And with sets this expensive that came out one per year I think TLG will find a lot of people scratching their heads having planned to buy TH later on, now mystified that it's gone.

Maybe I missed it, but I remember seeing a report of sets due for retirement when FB went. Was there one with these two on? If it's that I didn't see it because of my newsfeed preferences I'm going to be gutted!

Xefan

gmonkey76 said:

I fortunately got the town hall in October with double points. Went to the store but they were out, but was able to get online. While it's not my favorite modular I like it, and even named the man Mayor West. I don't think it should be any surprise that a set that came out in 2012 is now retired.

I always thought the TH mayor looked eerily like Canada's PM, Stephen Harper.

ericqqaazz

CCC said:

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?"

Yes, he had written a email to the customer service to check out whether the 10224 was gone. Then he got that reply from the Lego customer service.

Rups007

Town hall available on uk Lego website!

mountebank

hahahahahaha

msanders

Rups007 said:

Town hall available on uk Lego website!

If it was then it/they sold out very quick.

--------------------------------------------------------
I kinda surprised about the retirement of the TH but Lego are a business and they will have the sales figures for this set. If it wasn't selling then I can understand why they want to retire the set and make room for something else. Also, if Lego read some of the thoughts and reviews about the TH on forums like this then they probably got the impression that it was one of, if not, the worst Modular (although I don't agree!).

Mojoest

I managed to order one from customer services at about 2pm today. The person i spoke to seemed quite shocked they had any, but said they must have had some come back into the warehouse. I guess that was linked to them coming back on the website. Glad not to have missed it (although cant be 100% sure i guess, until it arrives). my local store and discovery centre have both sold out, ( I was in the TC discovery centre earlier as someone bought the last one they had in).

Dad

Legoboy said:

@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.

@Legoboy.....How could I have one? Would it be by special delivery on a Red Cargo Train..............?

Sethro3

Well, whether it sold well or not, the were probably trying to make room for the newest Modular. They need to keep the new stuff coming to make new money. They are probably catching old fans, but not as much as new fans/old fans of new modulars.

Most likely the TH sold fine, but not enough to justify another production run. PS also has been out of stock (last I checked), but will probably have a planned production run to give it another push. I doubt it will last 4 years like GE/FB, but they might last longer than expected. I always assume all Exclusives will last 2 years. If it sells so well to run out before then, it will probably get another production run.

I try to buy the oldest sets first, just to be safe. But TH clearly isn't a favorite amongst fans. It looks too much like FB overall (symmetrical, central column like appearance, tower on top). I happen to like both, but I can understand why people would wait on it, cost aside. But you need to weigh price vs want on items like this. I haven't picked up a lot of the UCS SW sets yet, but I doubt I will end up getting any of them with all of these other great exclusives coming out.

piratemania7

I think everyone has summed up TH fairly well; I think what took most people by surprise was how quickly it sold out, in other words it didnt come back, then backordered, then sold out a bunch of times, and two, just the "shorter" production run in general. I always ask myself 5 years from now, what will X set look like? be worth? how much will it be sought after? and I think TH won't necessarily be the most popular retired modular, and therefore sought after, but I definitely think it will be worth a nice penny at the very least - even used.

maniac

Mojoest said:

I managed to order one from customer services at about 2pm today. The person i spoke to seemed quite shocked they had any, but said they must have had some come back into the warehouse. I guess that was linked to them coming back on the website. Glad not to have missed it (although cant be 100% sure i guess, until it arrives). my local store and discovery centre have both sold out, ( I was in the TC discovery centre earlier as someone bought the last one they had in).

I was told yesterday by CS they had none and got my Tuesday web order cancelled. Lucky if you get one...

Rups007

maniac said:

Mojoest said:

I managed to order one from customer services at about 2pm today. The person i spoke to seemed quite shocked they had any, but said they must have had some come back into the warehouse. I guess that was linked to them coming back on the website. Glad not to have missed it (although cant be 100% sure i guess, until it arrives). my local store and discovery centre have both sold out, ( I was in the TC discovery centre earlier as someone bought the last one they had in).

I was told yesterday by CS they had none and got my Tuesday web order cancelled. Lucky if you get one...

I also placed my order via CS today and it's order status is currently "in warehouse", I'm hopeful I will receive it

tamamahm

I think something to note also is the appeal to older kids.

Between sets like
Pet Shop and Town Hall, which are older kids going to gravitate to?

Town Hall definitely does not have the kid appeal that Pet Shop would have, and it is more expensive. For the price, I think most older kids would gravitate to any other modular (or other set) first.

Then when you add the AFOL factor in where I have seen countless times people point others to any modular besides Town Hall because they feel the others are better.....

It just does not seem like a likely seller with any buying group.

I do have one, though, from the year of the crazy Modular Sales. My son will actually like it someday, because of the elevator feature.

Paperballpark

I was told at the weekend that they need to make space in the stores for the new Ninjago range, hence a bunch of large sets retiring - TH, SSD, and other large ones which I didn't really listen to because I wasn't bothered about them. I seem to remember Sopwith Camel being one of them.

zipsforbananas

^The SSD's retiring too? I timed that one well then! I guess that makes up for TH. :D

Mojoest

maniac said:

Mojoest said:

I managed to order one from customer services at about 2pm today. The person i spoke to seemed quite shocked they had any, but said they must have had some come back into the warehouse. I guess that was linked to them coming back on the website. Glad not to have missed it (although cant be 100% sure i guess, until it arrives). my local store and discovery centre have both sold out, ( I was in the TC discovery centre earlier as someone bought the last one they had in).

I was told yesterday by CS they had none and got my Tuesday web order cancelled. Lucky if you get one...

It's now marked as shipped so fingers crossed. Feel for you with yours getting cancelled. Maybe give them a ring tomorrow and see if they still have any?

pumperx

At Walmart pick up 2 GE that I ordered last Friday. Very happy that I can still manage to grab it just before it completely vanished.

broken_mop

I personally think Town Hall is a typical set which lacks in detail somehow but makes up for in size.
That's also the reason made me hold off from buying it. I prefer detail over size. But my girl friend is the opposite of me. She cares size most, so we got the Tower Bridge during the double points, and yesterday we finally got a Town Hall from ebay.

broken_mop

pumperx said:

At Walmart pick up 2 GE that I ordered last Friday. Very happy that I can still manage to grab it just before it completely vanished.

You can get Town Hall from Walmart? online or in store???

CircleK

broken_mop said:

But my girl friend is the opposite of me. She cares size most

I'm letting this one go.

pumperx

broken_mop said:

pumperx said:

At Walmart pick up 2 GE that I ordered last Friday. Very happy that I can still manage to grab it just before it completely vanished.

You can get Town Hall from Walmart? online or in store???

No TH, just GE. It was available online for a while last Thursday morning.

enotoga

RI= Research Institute. I think the TH is going to be a high dollar winner on the secondary market. It's a classic, must have design for anybody who truly catches the modular bug. If you're on the fence at all about acquiring one, I don't see how you can go wrong picking one up now at $300. You won't lose a penny, even if you build it. Give it one year, until next fall, and it'll be pushing through $500.

thehornedrat

You will regret saying this is set is a dud. Just like GG, this set has rare red-orange bricks. The 1x1x8 red-orange brick appears only in this set. The other red-orange bricks are pretty rare too. You see these color bricks in courthouses, libraries, churches. These bricks will be very sought after.

As for @Dad, that happened to me too! I ordered the 10221 SSD during the May 4th Sale and got the 10188 Death Star instead.

rocao

enotoga said:

Give it one year, until next fall, and it'll be pushing through $500.

I'll take the under on average selling price of $500 by next fall. I'm willing to wager a Town Hall.

pcirone

IF it is in fact retired NOW and does not come back in stock anywhere for more than a few seconds then I will take that action.. my deadline would be $500 or more before 2015 closes out. We need a proxy to send both copies to first :-)

With my true cost at around $160 w/tax the pot odds are just too good.

piratemania7

That's a pretty high price point for only a year in the future. I think a lot of people with 500 bucks will say hey I could buy the TH but I could also buy these other three modulars and get VIP points and likely freebies along the way instead; I don't know, but I think it may take a bit longer to reach that price/demand.

Gavin83

Here my prediction, TH will be back. I guess we'll just have to wait and see who's right...

SirKevbags

rocao said:

enotoga said:

Give it one year, until next fall, and it'll be pushing through $500.

I'll take the under on average selling price of $500 by next fall. I'm willing to wager a Town Hall.

That man does love a wager :-)

mathew

Gavin83 said:

Here my prediction, TH will be back. I guess we'll just have to wait and see who's right...

This is a distinct possibility. Lego is geared up for the Holidays and that means that they are probably devoting their resources to City, Star Wars, Chima etc. and the modular line is put on the back burner.

zipsforbananas

Is it normal for a set to be retired and then brought back the following season?

Brickarmor

Normal, no. But the past few years have provided enough examples to indicate that "sold out" is not at all the same as "retired." It happened with both GE and FB, more than once over the years. And it is that history which persuades me to believe that Town Hall will be back.

enotoga

Here's what I base my $500 target on. Currently when I search Ebay with the set name and the words "new" and "lego" - Fire Brigade 79, Grand Emprium 111, and Town Hall only 34 sets available. It's up $100 in 1 month. It will take about 6 months for Ebay inventories to drop under 20. If TH is in fact gone for good, this is a lucky dream set for investors because it was missed by a huge number of potential buyers. It will probably remain the largest Modular set and the anchor of any Lego Main Street.

Sethro3

I do agree that it does have rare colored bricks similar to GG, but I don't think you can compare the two. GG is repeatedly towards the top for all Modulars fans. Town Hall isn't. However, I will say with the price tag being higher, putting people off buying it MSRP, it will leave fewer in the aftermarket, so it will help skew the aftermarket prices, but I don't see it self reaching $500 so quickly, or at all. I've seen CC going for 600s and that is more sought after than TH.

legoboy1066

Spoke to Lego Customer service yesterday. Told me GE and TH retired.

zipsforbananas

^That's what I thought, if it were simply sold out I'd expect more to be available later, but not if it's retired. I still have to ask though, has a retired set ever been reinstated before? If not I'd say it's a pretty slim hope that we'll see more.

pcirone

Sethro3 said:

I do agree that it does have rare colored bricks similar to GG, but I don't think you can compare the two. GG is repeatedly towards the top for all Modulars fans. Town Hall isn't. However, I will say with the price tag being higher, putting people off buying it MSRP, it will leave fewer in the aftermarket, so it will help skew the aftermarket prices, but I don't see it self reaching $500 so quickly, or at all. I've seen CC going for 600s and that is more sought after than TH.

I'll assume you meant GG and not CC when you said it is going for 600s since the BP value of CC is currently $1,624..

The current BP value of GG is $869 or 5.79x RRP. TH at $500 would only be 2.5x RRP. Given the COMPLETELY unexpected retirement of TH and the PROVEN track record of modulars in general I don't see how it could possibly be under $500 by 12/31/15.

The last 3 sales on eBay were all over $300 and it's only been retired for a few days.. or is it even retired..

madforLEGO

TH always was a mod, but wasn't, as its price point was well above a typical Mod. So it would not surprise me if the Set is gone. I'm sure after discount stopped being available in the US, this set just did not sell as well due to what people have said above "200 USD gets me a building, but for 150 I can get a movie palace with vehicle, or buy another 150 mod and then buy a couple of city sets with it for the same amount".
Now the paradox is that many of those same people later on will be willing to shell out 300-400 for the set.
People say 'Yeah, but the FB would be more worth it, or this or that mod'. Well, there are completion-ists out there that will want it (same reason why Cafe Corner still is climbing, as well as Market Street-even those MS is not a 'mod' to most). That, combined with likely low reseller numbers, will make it still go up even though there are less people interested. Same reason why FB, despite being made for 5 years and TONS of people stacking them, went up as fast as it did, more popular as it is a fire station.

As for the 'rare' colors for the set... Considering you can find these brick at BL for less than LEGO is charging for them I'm not sweating. At least I'm buying what I may use later now as they are cheaper than retail (what LEGO is charging for them)
But even if the TH is gone, and stock of those parts dry up, you are also assuming they will never be made for another design ever. I doubt that seriously especially with the number of sets coming out (heck the new DA may be using the orange brick used in TH) It is only brick, it is not like rare parts in the set, though I'm guessing those shields will start to rise in price as I doubt they will use those again, maybe those arches, but again the assumption would have to be you will never see these again in another set anytime soon.
I would say sand green has less of a chance coming back than this orange color from TH. And Sand Green still has returned again in the past (first GG then recently the HH), and will likely be used in another set in the future.

luckyruss

zipsforbananas said:

^That's what I thought, if it were simply sold out I'd expect more to be available later, but not if it's retired. I still have to ask though, has a retired set ever been reinstated before? If not I'd say it's a pretty slim hope that we'll see more.

Ewok village is one example, in the UK at least, it was "sold out" quickly in the run up to Christmas 2009 and labelled as such on [email protected], probably spent about 6-8 weeks not being available and then reappeared (without tenth anniversary packaging).

madforLEGO said:

As for the 'rare' colors for the set... Considering you can find these brick at BL for less than LEGO is charging for them I'm not sweating. At least I'm buying what I may use later now as they are cheaper than retail (what LEGO is charging for them)
But even if the TH is gone, and stock of those parts dry up, you are also assuming they will never be made for another design ever. I doubt that seriously especially with the number of sets coming out (heck the new DA may be using the orange brick used in TH) It is only brick, it is not like rare parts in the set, though I'm guessing those shields will start to rise in price as I doubt they will use those again, maybe those arches, but again the assumption would have to be you will never see these again in another set anytime soon.
I would say sand green has less of a chance coming back than this orange color from TH. And Sand Green still has returned again in the past (first GG then recently the HH), and will likely be used in another set in the future.

They do "retire" particular elements as well though, presumably for the reason that they don't have capacity to keep producing every brick in each colour in has appeared in.

1 x 8 sand green would have been cheap just after GG retired but it was "retired" itself shortly after - whilst sand green is perhaps as common as it's ever been at present still no new 1x8 bricks. I could see that they keep a lot of dark orange in production, but the 1 x 8 could disappear. The arches could go the same way as the dark blue ones from MS. Just look at the price of the tan windows from EN for those who want to make extra carriages!

SuperTramp

Ewok Village 2009?

Is the new one a re release?

luckyruss

^^ indeed - sorry, I meant the last big ewok set prior, namely #8038 battle of endor (it's late here!)

enotoga

Also......yes, I agree with you and think that Grand Emporium and Pet Shop may shake out many of the short term, small time holders. These two modular sets are the first of their kind to be offered through multiple sold-out periods, reappearing with seemingly endless inventory, giving everybody ample opportunity to load the boat. The $20-$40 profit people will be around for a long long time on Pet Shop. Many of the small time players may opt to buy a share of Alibaba stock rather than a Lego set if they're looking for a faster return, albeit with higher risk.

zipsforbananas

luckyruss said:

Ewok village is one example, in the UK at least, it was "sold out" quickly in the run up to Christmas 2009 and labelled as such on [email protected], probably spent about 6-8 weeks not being available and then reappeared (without tenth anniversary packaging).

Sorry, you've just added more evidence to the question that's already been answered.
That was a set that was not retired, but was sold out, so more were made and became available later on. In fact, saying it like that it's pretty blindingly obvious, that's how selling products works!

There is a difference between a set getting sold out and so not being available because they've run out, and not being available because it's been retired and is no longer being made.
It's obvious on the database here. TH no longer has the Lego option under the buy-it links, and availability has an end date. Whereas current sets, even if sold out, have the link to [email protected] and availability listed up to "now."

I want to know if there has ever been a set that has actually been retired that has then been re-released.

It seems pretty black and white to me that these sets have been retired, and so there is absolutely no hope of Lego selling them ever again - that's what retirement means! I can't quite understand why anyone's even suggesting it could happen, unless of course it has happened before, which is what I'm asking!

enotoga

It look Fire Brigade about 3 months to display the "retired product" designation on Lego.com page after the product was no longer available. Until that happened the set was just shown as "sold out". The preponderance of evidence suggests that both GE and TH are now gone for good. Same with HH. The only time I've ever seen a set completely sell out, with no future ship date, and then suddenly re-appear is with GE and Mars Curiosity. These were both weird situations involving a culmination of events.

dragon114

want to try get the GE as my first modular building. if not ill go for the pet shop since that seem like it will go next