Thanks to The Rambling Brick, we have our first look at the upcoming January 2022 GWP – 40528 LEGO Retail Store!
It has a release date of 1 January 2022, which suggests that it will be the gift with purchase that you’ll be able to qualify for with all the January 2022 releases. The purchase threshold is US$125, £125 and €123, with no details in Australia – but I reckon it’ll be AU$150.
Perfect if you’re picking up new sets, especially the 10297 Boutique Hotel Modular which releases on 1 January 2022!
Note: there is some ambiguity with the availability of this set – as information that LEGO provided wasn’t exactly clear – some are speculating it’ll be available as a Store Opening set, and some are saying it’ll be available from the 1st of January. My money is on the latter, but we’ll see.
Update 31/12: I queried the Australian LEGO Certified Stores, and this won’t be available as a GWP on the 1st of January. So this is looking bad for GWP availability.
For those shopping on LEGO.com – there are 2 offers – these polybags with purchases of Friends and City sets.
This is a fantastic little micro model of the beloved LEGO Store, and would make an excellent LEGO Architecture model on its own. It has some beautiful little details, and nods to LEGO’s heritage such as the Wooden Duck, and also a wall-full of LEGO sets.
Here’s a look at the stickers, which give you a better look at the sets featured – from Technic, to Duplo, to Creator, City, Friends and Ninjago. Some of LEGO’s most iconic sets, and newer entries are featured – see if you can spot and identify them all!
It’s interesting that LEGO omitted any Creator Expert/LEGO for Adults sets, with the all-black branding given how important they are to The LEGO Brand – Lamborghini Sian non-withstanding, but I was expecting to see many more black boxes – guess they’re not as visually appealing!
You can head over to other LEGO sites like Rambling Brick or Brickset to see more of the set in action, ahead of its release on 1 January 2022!
To see all the January 2022 LEGO sets that you can pick up, check out the January 2022 LEGO Release Guide!
I have to admit, I’m getting super frustrated with LEGO and their GWP’s / bonus points offers lately. Having bought the Titanic and Home Alone sets the day they came out (as a VIP) there was nothing, then a week later all the bonuses come out. Again, just now, ordering the Boutique Hotel and there’s nothing. Really disappointing as a VIP customer who spends (way too much) each year with LEGO.
Also of note is that if using the QANTAS Mall to earn bonus Frequent Flyer points they exclude pretty much any sets from the Creator Expert range and any recent release.
Unfortunately, it’s a classic marketing tactic to get people to spend more. I wrote about it in November, where we saw it in action: https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/november-has-been-a-masterclass-in-lego-getting-you-to-spend-more-than-ever-before/
I was ready to drop money on a few sets on the 1st, but unfortunately the lack of any GWP, or promotional offer ultimately held me back until there’s a decent one. That or wait to get it at a discount at Kmart/Amazon.
I was just happy the VIP camera was up again, so got another. Bought only the new Lloyd’s dragon for my daughter with points except for about $5. I’ll probably end up with a fair amount of them yet again, but didn’t feel too pressed with chasing availability issues. Even my company has issues, I just did what I advise my clients, just be patient and expect to wait for the ‘right’ products rather than being in perpetual scramble mode.
I take it from other sources that this won’t be available on lego.com, just in stores? Any idea if there will be any online GWP in January – was planning to buy Sonic but I will leave it if there’s one or more coming.
Happy new year Jay and family and all fellow fans on this blog. I sense some interesting discussions coming up about the best sets of 2022 ;).
That’s adorable! Well, I wasn’t going to buy anything tomorrow, but I guess now I have to!!! 😂