In a world where dedicated toy stores are becoming scarce “everything is awesome” at Bricks & Minifigs. Its grand opening was on June 8 at 1929 Black Rock Turnpike, a few doors down from the ShopRite.
“Bricks & Minifigs is an authorized Lego retailer,” explained Lindsay Orr, a Fairfield resident and co-franchisee with husband David as excited customers poured into the store on opening day. “But what makes us unique and special is we sell not only new Lego sets, but used Lego sets as well. We also have a buy-sell-trade model that welcomes our community to sell us their Lego as well.”
Orr explained that she and her husband first encountered a Bricks & Minifigs location during a visit to California, which was immensely exciting for their two young children.
“We really enjoyed the idea that we could trade in some of our kids Lego for something that’s new to them without spending more and adding more to our collection,” said Orr. “We went in there and thought, ‘Gosh, there’s nothing like this in Fairfield!’ How incredible would it be to bring it to our community?”
Orr said that the enthusiasm drove her and her husband to look into franchising opportunities, ultimately leading to them opening the store. The Orrs work the store together, along with David’s father, and many of the example creations lining the shelves were crafted by their children.
The opening of the family business created three full-time and four part-time positions.
The store also features a party room and has a full schedule of classes and lessons for all skill levels of builders, from those working on ornate architectural sets to those who are simply happy to click together a few pieces in one of the bins of second-hand Lego pieces sold by the cupful.
The Fairfield store is the latest niche retail outlet in the town offering not just access to products, but also access to community, unique paraphernalia, and knowledgeable staff who can help young enthusiasts and seasoned hobbyists alike decide on a purchase.
Much like the recently opened Arisu anime store, the opening attracted a large, surprisingly diverse crowd. While there were many children in attendance there were also plenty of unchaperoned adults and older collectors.
Jacob Pasquariello was one of the first customers, he came from West Haven to pick up some hard-to-find collectable Lego sets. He said the drive was “worth it” and that he’d previously been visiting a store in Southington.
“There’s not a lot of Lego stores in the area,” Pasquariello added.
According to Orr, older customers were not surprising to see lined up in front of the store.
“I always kind of say that the Lego world is like an iceberg. At the tip are all those new sets we all know about but underneath there is a whole world of Lego creatives.”
Some eschew direction booklets entirely to make striking plastic structures, while others home in on the collectability. Mini figurines, the small posable characters who come with many of the play sets can become quite rare if they are part of a set that is only produced for a short while.
The first 100 customers were given a commemorative custom figurine celebrating the opening of the Fairfield location.
“You can buy a Stormtrooper where there’s tons for $7 all the way up to a rarer Queen Amidala that’s a couple hundred dollars,” Orr said of the Star Wars Lego sets in particular.
Star Wars was likely on Orr’s mind when she discussed the price range of the figurines as Darth Vader was at the moment stalking the store, offering high fives to the children and menacing the adults before making his way out to the crowd stretching almost the entire length of the shopping plaza.
There, he encountered somebody serving as an example of the light side of the force, the slightly bemused ShopRite Front End Manager Jimmy Rotunda.
Rotunda was moving down the line distributing bottled water from one of his store’s shopping carts.
“It’s a nice, beautiful day today and I figured everybody could use a little water, stay hydrated,” Rotunda said. “Line’s been out here since about 8, 8:30 this morning. I’m sure people have been waiting a long time.”
Rotunda said that he was very excited by the opening and surprised by the size and diversity of the line
“We walked by every day wondering what was going in there,” Rotunda said. “I’m definitely going to go see what’s going on in there, I’ve never been inside a Lego store before.”
