Unorthodox LEGO Investing Tip #1 - Discounted LEGO Sets At UK Supermarkets

The last few weeks have been perhaps the most difficult in my life. My sister and brother-in-law went through a harrowing experience; one I’d never wish on anyone (my avatar gives some clues as to part of their troubles). They weathered the storm like true superheroes and I wanted to give them a gift that really meant something. What was that gift? LEGO, of course.

Those close to me know that if I give LEGO as a gift it comes straight from the heart, and if you’ve read my last blog post you’ll know that my brother-in-law is an AFOL too (Creationary and ‘Escape from Mirkwood Spiders’ were amongst his Christmas presents last year). What then to give? How to put my sympathy into bricks? Easy. Superman and Wonder woman minifigures.

Being constantly on the ball, and knowing exactly which shops in my town have which sets and what price, I knew that Sainsbury’s had ‘Superman Vs. Power Armour Lex’ on sale at £14.99. Within minutes of deciding what to get them I was standing in the aisle with the set in my hands. I was also looking at a price tag of £9.99! I built a small base for them to stand on (7-wide so they could ‘hold hands’, in so far as minifigures can do that, and have 1 stud at either side) and when presented with the gift they were delighted. We later made a hamper of gifts for them into which I added the rest of the set (nearly kept it myself though!) – not sure if he’s built it yet.

Now, back to Sainsbury’s; I contemplated buying another set, either as an investment or to keep but I didn’t and I regret it. I’m sure could have made money on it, although as yet, I’m no expert. I also thought about buying the blue suitcase as a gift for £9.99, but didn’t. My point is not about investing – there are blogs on here who make that point with much more experience than I have – my point is that supermarkets have sales.

In order to score good bargains at supermarkets you must check regularly. Recently ASDA had two small sets at half price for less than a week –now they’re full price again. I got the ‘Creator Small Cottage’ at Sainsbury’s for half price, but they didn’t last long. AFOL friends post great deals at Tesco in their local stores which aren’t available country-wide (this was the same case when my Sainsbury’s had a sale). A local department store had 25% off Series 7 minifigures and I predicted it would roll out to the other series, and they did.

My advice (teaching grandmas to suck eggs) is to be vigilant and buy whilst you have the chance!

P.S. one good turn deserves another; my sister and brother-and-law bought me ‘Creator Blue Roadster’ the other week when I went to give blood for the first time. Now, that’s an innovative way of investing.