LEGO 42618 Heartlake City Café: My little investment experiment paid off
So, today I have an update on a LEGO Investment that I first told you about back in January 2026. Back then, it was about the LEGO Friends 42618 Heartlake City Café. Not a big modular build or an expensive Star Wars set, but a small café with an MSRP of 29.99 euros.
Back then, I just wanted to see if even small Friends sets like this could be worth considering as an Investment. And now it gets exciting: I actually sold the first few for 35 euros each. So we’re no longer just talking about some theoretical market value, but about an actual sale.
Bought for 14 to 17 euros—and now sold for 35 euros
My rule back then was very simple: I didn’t want to spend more than 19 euros on this set. In fact, I bought the sets for about 14, 15, 16, or 17 euros. On average, it came to about 16 euros per set.
The LEGO Friends Café was discontinued from the regular lineup at the end of 2025. When I wrote my first article in January, the market price at the time was about 29 euros. My hope was actually to get 39 to 40 euros for it someday.
The first sets have now sold out for 35 euros. And I think that, given an average purchase price of 16 euros, that’s a really great result.
My actual cost per set sold
| Average Purchase | €16.00 |
| Actual selling price | €35.00 |
| Profit before taxes and other expenses | 19.00 € |
| Return on purchase price | 118.75% |
The calculation is simple: (35 € − 16 €) ÷ 16 € × 100 = 118.75% return. Depending on the actual purchase price of each set, the return ranges from approximately 106% (purchase price of 17 euros) to 150% (purchase price of 14 euros).
No platform fees—because my buyers buy directly from me
One thing is particularly important to me here: I didn’t incur any platform fees for these sales. Customers come directly to me, and I’m also listed on Brick-Tracker with my own Deals. So I didn’t have to sell the sets through eBay or any other Marketplace.
This makes a big difference, especially with small sets. For example, if I had to pay a 15% sales fee on 35 euros, that would already take away 5.25 euros. Then, instead of 19 euros, there would only be 13.75 euros left as the difference between the purchase price and the selling price.
That leaves me with 19 euros per set as profit before taxes and any other costs. So it’s not a net profit calculation for tax purposes, but it’s exactly the figure I’m interested in when comparing my LEGO Investments.
About a year in the warehouse—why I didn’t wait for 40 euros
I’ve had these sets in storage for roughly a year now. I’d have to check the exact time period for each purchase individually. The 118.75% is therefore the total return on the capital invested, not an annual return calculated to the exact day.
Now, of course, you might ask: Why am I already selling it for 35 euros when I originally wanted 39 or 40 euros?
It’s simple: Because I’m absolutely satisfied with this result. My 16 euros turned into 35 euros. That’s more than double the money I invested. Of course, the remaining sets could become even more expensive. Maybe they’ll even reach 40 euros at some point. But there’s no guarantee of that.
And once I have that capital available again, I can use it to buy the next good Deal. For me, that’s just as much a part of my LEGO Investment as waiting for the right purchase price.
Why I bought the Friends Café back then
I found this little café interesting right from the start. It’s a beautiful building for a Friends or LEGO City set, with a terrace, interior details, and a theme that works even outside the classic Investment series.
At the time, I had also looked at the “part-out value” —that is, the calculated value of the individual parts and figures included. Based on my assessment at the time, that came to about 52 euros. Of course, that’s not a guaranteed selling price for a complete set, but for me it was an additional indication that there was quite a bit of value in that little café.
In the end, though, the most important factor wasn’t the part-out value, but my purchase price. If I’d paid 25 euros, I’d only have a 10-euro difference from the selling price. But since my average purchase price is 16 euros, the difference is 19 euros.
Would I buy small LEGO Friends sets again as an Investment?
Yes, definitely—but not just any set. For me, a number of factors have to align: a good model, a low purchase price, reasonable demand, and as little storage space as possible.
I find the space requirements particularly interesting when it comes to small sets. You can store several copies without having to stack huge boxes right away. Still, you can’t forget that you ultimately have to find Buyers. A nice return on paper doesn’t help much if you can’t sell anything.
And that’s exactly why I’m happy about this update: I actually sold these sets.
My conclusion: This small LEGO Investment was worth it.
Back in January, I introduced you to the LEGO Friends 42618 Heartlake City Café as a little experiment. At the time, the projected return was just over 80%. Now I’ve actually sold the first sets for 35 euros, and with an average purchase price of 16 euros, I’ve achieved a realized return of 118.75%.
To me, this shows that you don’t always have to buy the big, expensive LEGO sets to achieve interesting results. The key is to shop with discipline and, when you get a good result, be willing to sell.
We’ll have to see how the rest of them sell. Maybe they’ll eventually go for 40 euros. But I’m definitely very satisfied with the sales so far.