Bricks & Minifigs Finds Niche in LEGO Resale Market
LEGO is a toy that transcends generations.
“I would say timeless and classic, both,” said Kayla Tomenes of Hutchinson.
And in a strip mall near the Plymouth and Minnetonka border, there’s a store that will appeal to kids and those who are kids at heart.
“We’re probably the best kept secret in the west metro,” said Steven Olan, manager of Bricks & Minifigs. “Once they step in, it is like a trip down memory lane. They see the old retired sets that we have and they’re like, I had this when I was a kid.”
Bricks & Minifigs is a store devoted entirely to the world of LEGO.
“It grew from just a couple of stores way back in the day to now over a hundred nationwide,” Olan said.
The store has LEGO sets with themes ranging from Star Wars to Marvel to pirate ships, and it has more minifigures than a person can count, including the incredibly hard to find ones.
Some of the LEGO minifigs on display at Bricks & Minifigs.
Building community through LEGO
But if you talk to the customers and staff members, you’ll realize it’s much more than a place to buy and sell LEGO sets.
“I think that’s my favorite thing about LEGO, is that it’s more community-oriented than any other hobby,” said Olan. “You know, maybe tabletop gaming or those types of things have really good community, but LEGO is this vast community of people that share their art, what they’re creating, and people can kind of glean ideas off of each other.”
That sense of community has turned Bricks & Minifigs into a thriving franchise.
Of course, there’s also the fact that LEGO generally doesn’t depreciate in value because there’s a huge collectors’ market.
“So if you ever get tired and you’re like, I don’t want to look at this set anymore, and I want to resell it, you almost always should be selling it for more than what you bought it for,” said Olan.
A store like Bricks & Minifigs gives people the option of assembling a classic set, or creating something completely new.
“It’s a really nice place,” said Derek Merrifield, a customer. “It’s just a real dream to be here.”
Bricks & Minifigs is located at 12909 Ridgedale Drive in Minnetonka.
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