This past March, I picked up the latest Creator Expert modular building, the Corner Garage. As many of you know, the LEGO® Group releases one of these large buildings each year. Generally speaking, though the price tag of each of these buildings is high, you are actually getting a great value in terms of the cost of each brick in the set. Buying one of these sets is like buying LEGO® bricks in bulk. This year, as I was preparing my review of the Corner Garage, I realized that the price per brick had gone up. Don’t get me wrong, the set is still a great value. But, it is not the amazing value I have come to expect from these sets. The slideshow below shows the modulars produced so far, with a look at the price-per-brick in the caption (all images are official product images, © LEGO Group who does not sponsor, authorize, or endorse True North Bricks).
Cafe Corner, $0.10/brick 
Green Grocer, $0.09 
Fire Brigade, $0.09/brick 
Grand Emporium, $0.09/brick 
Pet Shop, $0.10/brick 
Town Hall, $0.09/brick 
Palace Cinema, $0.09/brick 
Parisian Restaurant, $0.08/brick 
Detective’s Office, $0.09/brick 
Brick Bank, $0.09/brick 
Assembly Square, $0.08/brick 
Downtown Diner, $0.09/brick 
Corner Garage, $0.11/brick
As you can see, the best value modular buildings in the Creator Expert line have been Assembly Square and the Parisian Restaurant (both at $0.08/brick). Most other sets have stayed pretty consistent at $0.09/brick, with the exception of the Pet Shop, which clocked in at $0.10/brick. I wrote Cafe Corner in at $0.10/brick as well, but I can’t actually confirm that 100%. As far as I can tell, this set was not officially retailed in Canada, so I assumed it would have marketed for $199.99 CAD like the other early modular buildings did. Given that the average price per brick of these Creator Expert sets has been $0.09/brick, the sudden jump to $0.11/brick seen with the Corner Garage took me a little by surprise. Is this a taste of things to come, or a result of something else like the higher cost of individual pieces included in the set? Only time will tell, I suppose. What do you think? Feel free to comment below.
Until next time,
-Tom
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Could it be inflation? I kind of feel like everything (including Lego) has jumped up in price this past year or so.
It is quite likely. Things always seem to get more expensive…