What is the best Lego city shop/building for a first buy?

[SocialRefund]

Hay Guys and Gals

I'm taking the next step with Lego sets and want to start getting a few Lego city shops/buildings.

I've seen things like Parisian cafe the bank pet shop but which one is a good one for a first by or does it not matter which to get and to just build up your city as you please?

Also building skill is not a problem incase some are harder than others.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Mr Greeble]

The Detectives Office was my first, and well, it got me hooked. But yeah, that one is great.

[tman684]

I started with Market Street, then Cafe Corner, and I've luckily been able to get all of the modulars first hand before they've been retired. So if I were you, I'd start with the Pet Shop and work your way forward by release so you can get the older ones before they're pulled, because the prices go up on the aftermarket once they're retired!

[Venunder]

You could start with any of these

http://brickset.com/sets/31036-1/Toy-Grocery-Shop

http://brickset.com/sets/31050-1/Corner-Deli

http://brickset.com/sets/31026-1/Bike-Shop-Cafe

Then pick up some of the Friends Shops?

Get the modulars as you go along, starting with Pet Shop, Palace Cinema, Parisian Restaurant, Detective's Office and Brick Bank.

If you have enough spare money you can then hunt down the earlier Modulars like Green Grocer.

[Jern92]

Quick, get Pet Shop before it retires!

[goldengraham09]

the only modular i have bought myself atm is Pet shop as i knew this would be the first one to go into retirement.

then im going to get the palace cinema next after a few months of saving. then like the comment from venunder parisian restaurant, detective's office and brick bank.

Also whilst buying them i am going to be in the process of ordering parts from bricklink for some of the older modulars.

atm i am working towards making the town hall.

[wyepass]

you have enough spare money you can then hunt down the earlier Modulars like Green Grocer.

Edited January 12, 2016 by wyepass

[JonnyYeti]

Parisian Restaurants is by far the best currently available modular in my opinion and it also looks best by itself out of all of them if you only ever buy one. However if you plan on getting them all start with the pet shop and the cinema before they are retired!

I don't know about the retired ones as I haven't seen them but they are ridiculously expensive to buy second hand now.

[chump]

It depends on your budget and your goals. Do you have the budget for modulars? Or more at the the Creator expert buildings? Is your intent to just build stock models and leave them on the shelf or is to create MOCs of your own? I'm going to assume a limited budget and a desire to build your own creations. In this case, I would agree with @VenUnder in that the Creator Expert Buildings are good value to purchase multiples of. You can customize something larger and keep with a consistent colour scheme. Look at the Pick a Brick wall and add bricks and pieces that are consistent with your buildings.

I would also download all the Modular Buildings instructions and look at the various techniques that are used. Granted it's one thing to look at instructions and it's another to build. So if you have really good friends who have the modulars already and are really agreeable, you might ask to borrow one to disassemble and put back together for the experience.