2 weeks Ago By Sara Guymon
ROCHESTER — Those looking to build Lego sets without breaking the bank will soon have a new option in Rochester. Bricks and Minifigs is expanding its franchise to Rochester. The business plans to open in November at 221 28th St.
SE, Suite 800. ADVERTISEMENT The store is primarily a buy, sell and trade model, meaning there will not be many new sets for sale. Most of the store’s items will include used sets, mini figures and loose Lego bricks.
Customers have the option to bring in their own Lego pieces to sell or trade, or they can buy individual pieces. Owner Rob Warland likened the store to a “Play It Again Sports or Once Upon a Child, but for Lego.” He said the store will have shelves filled with thousands of minifigures, all sorted and priced.
Warland knows Lego sets and pieces can be incredibly expensive, but a store like Bricks and Minifigs “helps families to be able to actually afford it.” He added kids can learn a lot from building Lego sets and that knowledge can help them in the future. “There's a lot of fun and engineering behind it,” he said.
After having success earlier this year at their store in Roseville, Minnesota, Warland and his wife started to consider expanding their business elsewhere. ADVERTISEMENT “Pretty much every weekend we get people coming from out of the cities and then Rochester was the No. 1 place that we heard,” Warland said.
Warland said there also are plans to have an area for parties — for Lego fans young and old — and summer classes. The fun thing about Lego is any person of any age can enjoy it. There are simpler sets with larger blocks for younger children, but there are also sets with thousands of pieces for adults to enjoy.
“In light of the pandemic, even before the pandemic, Lego was pushing adult sets,” Warland said, adding flower sets and ones that have thousands of pieces started to become popular in the last few years. "..
. I think a lot of people got into or got back into Lego at that point, and it's just continued on.” Warland has slowly been bringing inventory down from the Twin Cities.
The Roseville location has between 7,000 to 8,000 mini figures for sale and Warland is excited to bring a new collection to Rochester. He is at the Rochester store multiple times a week trying to prepare for the grand opening planned for Nov. 16, 2024.
“In the next two weeks, the whole space will look very different, although two weeks ago it looked very different,” Warland said. “There was no floor, no paint, no fixtures in here, but taking one van load at a time, every time I come down, three (or) four times a week, I just bring more and more Lego.” The grand opening is expected to have a huge turnout.
The Roseville location had a line of people for hours and they are expecting something similar, Warland said. There are a lot of adult fans of Lego in the Rochester area and Warland is excited to bring his inventory to Southeast Minnesota. “We'll serve hot chocolate and coffee because I'm sure it's going to be pretty chilly that day, but we're going to have a great time,” Warland said.
“It's going to be a lot of fun. Two Lego masters will be here. One lives here in the state.
Another one's traveling from another state to come here. And so we'll do some mini Lego master challenges as well. People get to meet them and see how they do their art, and we’ll give away a bunch of Lego sets, too.
” ADVERTISEMENT Bricks and Minifigs 221 28th St. SE, Suite 800, Rochester, MN 55904 507-218-2117 bricksandminifigs.com/rochester-mn/.
