What is the oldest Lego set you have seen in a shop?

[TheAbsoluteSt81]

What is the oldest set you have seen in a shop, relative to the time you saw it (i.e. how long had it been discontinued for at the time)?

For me, the only one that comes to mind is the Toy Story Buzz Lightyear ship, which I believe my local W H Smith sold until around 2015. I've probably seen older sets than that in shops at some point though; I think I remember seeing sets with 4-digit codes around 2017/18 but don't remember any further details.

Also, I remember my local Toys R Us stocked the 2006 X-wing until around 2011 (before the next one came out), but I'm not sure if that was discontinued or if it just had a longer run (I don't remember any other shops stocking it).

Note: if there are already any threads for this topic (I don't think there are any active ones) feel free to link to those as well!

[Jack Sassy]

About two weeks ago I saw 31065 in the local shopping mall and was surprised. Didn't buy it though. Another instance is that I saw 4181 in a building supply store in 2014, didn't pick up at that time either but lucky for me they are selling six POTC sets in an internet store two boroughs away.

[OTIS_0937]

Couldn't find the year discontinued but saw the yellow castle once not for sale and another time for sale both came with boxes (one was in the box but not sure if it was sealed) and were in shops. 

Edited March 26, 2021 by OTIS_0937

[caiman0637]

I've seen this at a local store: 375 This at the same store: 6285 This particular shop also had a basic building set, from 1969, I think. (None were for sale.)

[KotZ]

On 3/26/2021 at 8:51 AM, caiman0637 said:

I've seen this at a local store: 375 This at the same store: 6285 This particular shop also had a basic building set, from 1969, I think. (None were for sale.)

Funny, I saw one in a store today on sale. I was surprised it was going for only like $100 USD.

[Kit Figsto]

I think you're right about TRU stocking the 2006 X-Wing, I had the same experience here in the US, so I legitimately think that they just kept it on shelves for that long.  It's easy to see why, too, because I think it was only $50-60 and the TRU version included basically all of the main characters plus Wedge, if I remember correctly.  

As far as my oldest set, in major retailers, I honestly don't know, probably a couple of sets that might hang around a year or so after being discontinued, but I don't recall specifically.

There's a toy store in my local mall that tends to have some older stuff stocked, and I'm fairly certain they still had the Baze Malbus and Jyn Erso buildable figures from 2016 as of a year ago, haven't been there in about a year, so I can't say for sure.  They also had the battle packs from Solo in there for a while, too.

There was also a small general store that I went to a number of times as a young kid that, for whatever reason, always had older toys on the shelves, but they were still new in box.  It was odd, too, because every time I'd go, they would have different old Lego sets on the shelves.  I remember around 2009-ish, they still had some Jack Stone sets on the shelves, and I remember buying the Sports set, 3542 (from 2003), and the Racers set, 4576 (from 2001), both at least in 2007 or 2008.  I also found a random late-90s polybag of some basic bricks, too, which was a super weird one.  

Finally, there's also a Lego resale shop near my house, so technically I've been to a store selling sets new in box that are over two decades old, but I don't think that really counts, since it's less unusual than finding older stuff on store shelves where it's not supposed to be.  

Edited March 31, 2021 by Kit Figsto

[The Stud]

I found and picked up a Lego Batman Movie set at a Walmart somewhat near me back in February. It was a slightly damaged 70902 Catwoman Catcycle Chase just laying in front of some recent Marvel and DC sets. I think it must have been found under a shelf or something since that particular location has been moving stuff around recently.

Also my Barnes and Noble tends to have a few older sets in the Lego aisle. They still have some 2019 Ninjago sets, DC Super Hero Girls set (41233 Lashina Tank), 41954 Captain Salazar Brickheadz and a trio of 75119 Jyn Erso Buildable Figures. Until recently, they also still carried 70606 Spinjitzu Training from The Lego Ninjago Movie.

[Kivi]

In 2018 I bought 6420 in a local independent toy store. There was still a sticker on the box from the company that was importing and distributing LEGO in Slovenia in 1998 (and quite a few of them have changed since then).

They were also selling a similarly sized Aquazone set from the same period. Someone must have been tidying up a long forgotten warehouse