No LEGO modular buildings are due to retire in 2022

The LEGO Group has delayed the planned retirement of 10270 Bookshop to 2023, which means no modular buildings are due to leave shelves this year.

Traditionally, at least one modular building has retired from production at the end of each year, making way for the next in the series shortly after. Last year, for instance, 2019’s 10264 Corner Garage bowed out, and in its place came 10297 Boutique Hotel on January 1, completing the cycle we’ve seen time and again over the past decade and a half.

That’s all set to change in 2022, as the current list of Creator Expert sets retiring this year doesn’t include any modular buildings. Until as recently as last month, 2020’s 10270 Bookshop was slated to retire by December, leaving 10255 Assembly Square, 10278 Police Station and 10297 Boutique Hotel as the only modular buildings on sale (before a new one presumably arrived in 2023).

As of April, however, the LEGO Group has shifted 10270 Bookshop’s exit date to December 2023. That’s good news for anyone yet to grab the 2,504-piece building, which splits into two separate 16-stud-wide structures, because you’ve now got an extra year to pick it up. But what could it mean for the Modular Buildings Collection as a whole?

One possible conclusion to draw is that we aren’t getting a new modular building in 2023, so the LEGO Group doesn’t need to retire one to accommodate. That would be pretty sensational for a subtheme that’s now 15 years old, and has shown no signs of losing steam over the past couple of years, but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.

More likely, though, is that 10270 Bookshop is simply selling well, and the LEGO Group has elected to keep it in production at the expense of another set that isn’t a modular building. Seven sets in the Creator Expert portfolio are still due to retire in 2022, including a couple of relatively recent releases in 10284 Camp Nou – FC Barcelona and 10291 Queer Eye – The Fab 5 Loft.

Whether one of those is on the way out to allow 10270 Bookshop to stay on sale is difficult to determine, but it feels more probable than the LEGO Group suddenly abandoning – or at least hitting pause – on the Modular Buildings Collection. For now, you can take your pick of the current crop of modular buildings, safe in the knowledge that they’re not going anywhere any time soon.

That’s unless the LEGO Group revises its retirement dates again before the end of the year, of course. Click here to check out a full list of sets retiring by the end of 2022, and keep an eye on Brick Fanatics for updates on 10270 Bookshop and the wider Creator Expert theme.

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