Town Hall and Grand Emporium Retired!

piratemania7

Jern92 said:

I've seen plenty of Town Halls lying around here in NZ too, but they're sold at the RRP of NZD360 (USD277) so it's a pretty steep price to pay. Modulars here are priced absolutely ridiculously.

I bet you could still buy a handful at that price and turn a profit now...

Jern92

piratemania7 said:

I bet you could still buy a handful at that price and turn a profit now...

Tempting, but I just don't have the money for it. Need to save up for ages to afford even a single modular

MrJ_NY

And for the price TH is going for now,that $277 is a steal....shoulda...coulda..woulda

piratemania7

I think some of it is still the initial post retired shock. Once some of the quick flippers exit and the rest of the quick hitters get shaken out you should see the price for TH drop. Significantly? Maybe not, but this is too quick too high to keep going at this rate and stay here so soon.

MrJ_NY

Another thing is everyone got comfortable,thinking the retirement order would remain the same as it had been,in the order they were released...So as long as you bought the oldest modular you were fine & had plenty of time to buy the next oldest the following year/whatever your schedule allows....but now they threw a curveball so you'll be more inclined to try & buy them each as soon as possible because you no longer "know" the formula for retirements.
Now those who put the TH off until later due to its higher pricepoint/play value are trying to get one ASAP

pharmjod

piratemania7 said:

I think some of it is still the initial post retired shock. Once some of the quick flippers exit and the rest of the quick hitters get shaken out you should see the price for TH drop. Significantly? Maybe not, but this is too quick too high to keep going at this rate and stay here so soon.

I would argue the opposite to be true. Once the flippers are gone, all that will be left will be people willing to sit on the set until it gets to their desired rate of return. We may see the prices plateau for a time, but by Christmas this year I won't be surprised to see $550-$600+. This set just simply does not have the numbers of resellers holding it quite like the other recent modulars.

I've seen people talk about it being a boring building but I know it was one for me that gave me a wow factor more than many of the others ever did. And, it is a Town Hall. Every community needs one.

piratemania7

pharmjod said:

piratemania7 said:

I think some of it is still the initial post retired shock. Once some of the quick flippers exit and the rest of the quick hitters get shaken out you should see the price for TH drop. Significantly? Maybe not, but this is too quick too high to keep going at this rate and stay here so soon.

I would argue the opposite to be true. Once the flippers are gone, all that will be left will be people willing to sit on the set until it gets to their desired rate of return. We may see the prices plateau for a time, but by Christmas this year I won't be surprised to see $550-$600+. This set just simply does not have the numbers of resellers holding it quite like the other recent modulars.

I've seen people talk about it being a boring building but I know it was one for me that gave me a wow factor more than many of the others ever did. And, it is a Town Hall. Every community needs one.

True. But even more so I still think it's too early for this set to be at this number. Any mod can "eventually" meet this number and even surpass it....in due timE. I just think right now is not an accurate reference for the TH due to those short timers and even many speculators buying up what they can. At any rate I picture this as being a pretty tumultuous time for accurate pricing and we should sit back and watch the quick flippers and others get out of the game before really chalking this up as a serious rocket ship of a set in the aftermarket.

pharmjod

I can generally agree with that statement @piratemania7‌ especially the tumultuous time for accurate pricing.

klatu003

I like the Town Hall. You just need to give it the proper position in your city.

Jern92

^ I wanted to do this but never quite succeeded (ended up with a square but I really wanted a roundabout). Thanks for the picture!

Pitfall69

klatu003 said:

I like the Town Hall. You just need to give it the proper position in your city.

That's freakin' amazing. That's how the town hall should be positioned.

doriansdad

klatu003 said:

I like the Town Hall. You just need to give it the proper position in your city.

Looks gorgeous. Can you post or link to photos of the entire setup?

cheshirecat

klatu003 said:

I like the Town Hall. You just need to give it the proper position in your city.

That's the best modular layout I've seen. I get thoroughly bored of seeing the same modular buildings in every single city layout, so its nice to see a bit more thought and creativity go in to it.

klatu003

Wow, I wasn't expecting so much enthusiasm for a mere layout (horizontal MOCing?) Thanks for all the props - made me feel all warm. I will try to get around to taking pictures and posting to Flickr soon.

zipsforbananas

^It's only a small thing but it makes a huge difference. I think it looks brilliant.
I'd love to have the space to get road baseplates, move the modulars around on theirs so the curbs come to the edge of the studs, set the Town Hall back like that, etc. I just know my wife would demand our dining table back at some point!! :P

Gooker1

klatu003 said:

Wow, I wasn't expecting so much enthusiasm for a mere layout (horizontal MOCing?) Thanks for all the props - made me feel all warm. I will try to get around to taking pictures and posting to Flickr soon.

It does look really nice! I'd love to see more pictures too!

tamamahm

klatu003 said:

Wow, I wasn't expecting so much enthusiasm for a mere layout (horizontal MOCing?) Thanks for all the props - made me feel all warm. I will try to get around to taking pictures and posting to Flickr soon.

Honestly, layouts can make all the difference. I use sets for display with a few customs, but it becomes all about the layout. Some years I am happier with a display than others. In your case, it really is the spacing that makes the big difference. You are correct. Town Hall needs it room. It really looks fabulous as you staged it.

klatu003

OK. All this attention made me take some shots of the layout. I need to get better using Photoshop to clean up the backgrounds without it taking forever. I'm am fortunate to have a dedicated Lego room and this layout did take the entire 43 x 106 dinning table.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/klatu0039/15716723233/

Jawascrump

@klatu003‌ Wow! That's inspirational! So much so, I've ordered some road plates to recreate your layout in front of Town Hall... (Even though I don't actually own that set yet!) I knew TH had display potential! Thank you for the photos and congratulations on your wonderful display.

iamterry

Looking at that layout plus seeing the price of TH's on ebay made me deliberately crack open my TH tonight to start building so I wouldn't be tempted to sell it! Now it's open, better start building. Oh the hardship :)

LegoTT

Town Hall or UCS Hellicarrier....decisions decisions...

ChgoMatt

Excellent layout. Thanks for the inspiration.

ChgoMatt

Jern92 - I like your placement of minifigures. Is that a cop and fireman making out on top of the fire station? And perhaps a lesbian wedding?

Jern92

ChgoMatt said:

Jern92 - I like your placement of minifigures. Is that a cop and fireman making out on top of the fire station? And perhaps a lesbian wedding?

Haha yes it is! You're the first person to ever notice those things! I did a whole backstory for the cop and the firemen (up to the point where they got married) and I realised that I got 2 different brides as well so figured I'd give the Town Hall its first ever lesbian wedding!

fixitbobby

klatu003 said:

"I like the Town Hall. You just need to give it the proper position in your city."

Your setup is cool. The Haunted House up on a hill in the distance behind the courthouse would be neat, kind of like the Bates motel...

piratemania7

I'd love to see if someone has/can do a layout with ALL of the mods released to date set up in a great city layout - I bet something that cool may even be picked up as a photo op by TLG.

klatu003

@piratemania7 would your list include 10190: Market Street? My layout has two non-standard mods CC and GG, I'm not purist enough to spend big bucks making them 100% correct and I actually like my gold and black awnings better for CC.

madforLEGO

piratemania7 said:

I'd love to see if someone has/can do a layout with ALL of the mods released to date set up in a great city layout - I bet something that cool may even be picked up as a photo op by TLG.

I have em, just not built, not enough room in my apt sadly. Im guessing there are a few folks here in the same boat.

Gooker1

madforLEGO said:

I have em, just not built, not enough room in my apt sadly. Im guessing there are a few folks here in the same boat.

Yuuuuup :(

oldtodd33

Mine are all built but they are in a rectangle awaiting one more side by side and one more corner.

3sloth

vb

Pitfall69

Sorry for the resurrection, but do the people that were so high on Town Hall still stand by their assertion that it will continue to skyrocket in price? Here we are half way through 2016 and TH is hovering around $580 or less on Ebay.

SumoLego

I bought a used one recently for less than $300.00.  I will say that it is a very impressive set.  I can see where it is a little bit larger that the rest of the line, and with the higher price point, probably why it was retired early.

I don't see where this is a $1000.00 set.  It is nowhere near as scarce as the CC, GG, and MS.  

tallblocktoo

$300 thats a sweet deal.  

pharmjod

Do you have numbers to back up that it is no where near as scarce. What did cafe corner and green grocer go for not quite two years after they retired?

They were all out a similar length of time, but town hall was at a considerable price increase. Lego may not have made as many as a result. It could possibly be rare than those two. Only time will tell.

pharmjod

Also, I don't see any set actually being worth $1K, so that is somewhat of an irrelevant thing to say.

AllBrick

Theres always L***n to fall back on if you can't afford the original.

flord

As someone who came out of their dark age a year too late, I have been considering a Lepin version. Town Hall is the last of the older modulars I'm interested in. Just not at $500-$600. After thinking about it, I'm not going to fund thieves of Lego's IP.

SumoLego

pharmjod said:

Do you have numbers to back up that it is no where near as scarce. What did cafe corner and green grocer go for not quite two years after they retired?

They were all out a similar length of time, but town hall was at a considerable price increase. Lego may not have made as many as a result. It could possibly be rare than those two. Only time will tell.

I regularly bemoan not having any insight into production number for any sets.  I would love to know the 'minimum' production run of these larger sets.

However, I think it is safe to assume that the CC, GG and MS were produced before the absolute explosion of Lego.  Most of the notable collectable sets of that era - Carousel, VW Beetle, Taj Mahal, UCS SW had 'more' limited availability.

Lego sells on a universally larger scale, so even 'small' production sets are produced at  comparatively higher volumes.  

My guess would be that these were probably produced atleast at the same level as the FB or the UCS B-Wing on its production run.  There should be plenty in the market for the forseeable future.

pharmjod

I counted roughly 16 cafe corners for sale on eBay right now (ones that looked like an original copy, not brick linked or custom) and roughly 36 town halls. Town hall has only been done not quite two years. Cafe corner has been gone almost eight. While I don't expect town hall to be at $3K+ nisb in 6 more years, I fully expect it will be over $1000. I would actually be a little surprised if it wasn't. The reality is when it disappeared "suddenly", it caught many "investors" off guard. It was possible to acquire a large number quickly if you acted. I ordered 8 from Walmart the day it disappeared and I am sure there are others that purchased even more. But realistically, how many people have the money and space to tie up several thousand dollars in one large set. The fact that it is the largest modular and is the town hall will give the set legs.

AllBrick

^^ As someone else who came out of their DA too late and missed all those modulars I just want to sarcastically say, yay.

SumoLego

I also happen to think that the investment bubble will deflate a bit with post-FB modulars and Creator sets not appreciating as much.

iso3200

I have to wonder if the GBHQ has impacted sales. I know it's not technically a modular, but after all, if you want a large building to be a centre-piece, a readily available brand new set with VIP points and sometimes a monthly free set has to got have appeal for similar, or less cash.

legogal

The barrage of exciting new sets from TLC would leave me apprehensive if I now owned spares of modulars. (Sold mine at low prices to builders during the past six months.) There are just so many new sets arriving that it seems to me that demand could fall for the retired modulars. Also folks are running out of space to display or store them. So glad that my closet has a bit of space now and that I don't have to worry about selling spares in this crazy market. The only way I can "play" with my LEGO is to get rid of those I don't use or want any more...opening up space to build and enjoy them again. 

pharmjod

I think parts of the investment bubble will break. There will likely always be sets that perform well. I expect town hall to be the last modular to actually appreciate much. I'm not  investing in that line at this point. Maybe if I see them discounted significantly.

koshka

Pitfall69 said:

Sorry for the resurrection, but do the people that were so high on Town Hall still stand by their assertion that it will continue to skyrocket in price? Here we are half way through 2016 and TH is hovering around $580 or less on Ebay.

It feels like it's levelled off or even dropped back a little recently. I looked at the prices in the UK in some depth about six months ago as it was the only gap in our modular collection. At that point it was around £280-300 used and £400-450 new. I was lucky enough to spot a Buy It Now auction for a new one with a slightly damaged box on a Swedish auction site for £250. Having had a quick look at UK ebay it seems like the set hasn't gone up since I looked and used ones may have dropped a little. Maybe people are freeing up space as I know that's become an issue for us recently.

ryjay

SumoLego said:

I regularly bemoan not having any insight into production number for any sets.  I would love to know the 'minimum' production run of these larger sets.

I'd love to know this too.   And additionally, know the frequency of these production runs.  For many companies having too much money tied up in inventory can be devastating.  But can Lego hit the production economy of scale and carry total inventory or do they operated turning inventory over each month.

Bumblepants

Looking at the prices on Grand Emporium and it seems to be pretty stagnant as well. I guess there is too much stock hoarded still to increase by much.

William_Townsley

What's the average price of the Green Grocers? 

TigerMoth

ryjay said:

But can Lego hit the production economy of scale and carry total inventory or do they operated turning inventory over each month.

I'm sure you've seen the videos of the "cathedrals" for parts. There are also videos around (if only I could remember where) of huge warehouses containing packaged sets, jointly run with one of the logistics companies.