Local married couple Tony Lopez and Jenny Lopez launched a Bowling Green franchise of Bricks & Minifigs, a nationwide company that specializes in LEGO and LEGO-adjacent products.
Bricks & Minifigs sells LEGO products straight from LEGO distribution and “retired” LEGO sets bought from customers or online.
“The way that LEGO works is they’ll typically put something out and it’ll have a shelf life for about a year or two and then they’ll retire it,” Tony Lopez said. “LEGO is one of the few products that actually appreciates in value once it’s gone off the shelf.”
The store, located on Scottsville Road, opened on Sept. 28, 2024.
“Opening the store is one of the things that I knew we needed, because we don’t have anything like this, and I was already a consumer of it,” Tony Lopez said.
Tony and Jenny Lopez are both extensively familiar with the Bowling Green community.
Jenny Lopez, lifelong Bowling Green local, graduated from Greenwood High School and attended WKU for two years in the early 2000s. Tony Lopez has been a local since his study at WKU, graduating with a BFA in graphic design in 2001.
Though Tony and Jenny Lopez shared mutual friends during their time at WKU, their first meeting occurred in the parking lot of a local apartment complex.
“She actually hit my car and then I kept seeing her everywhere around town after that, and then we just kind of started talking,” Tony Lopez said. “And then I actually got her a job at Best Buy.”
Tony and Jenny Lopez eventually migrated from Best Buy to Dell Computers in Nashville and married during their time with the company.
Jenny Lopez stayed with Dell for 16 years before being laid off amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Tony Lopez considers the new store a “passion project” as his day job at Broadcom, a major tech company, consumes most of his time.
“I’ve hired a manager to kind of run it and Jenny runs things as well,” Tony Lopez said. “And I’m here when I can be.”
Tony Lopez frequented the Bricks & Minifigs location in Louisville and delved into the opportunity of franchising from his experiences.
“We’re related in the name but we’re all independently owned and operated,” Tony Lopez said.
“It’s very much like a grassroots franchise,” Jenny Lopez said. “We all help each other with problems and send each other different stuff.”
The company has roughly 200 locations nationwide, according to Tony Lopez.
Tony and Jenny Lopez expressed their gratitude for the community support over the last few weeks.
The grand opening in September saw over 700 customers that Saturday, according to Tony Lopez.
“The community really came together and stuck it out and supported us,” Tony Lopez said. “ We couldn’t have asked for any more.”
Jenny Lopez said customers filed outside the establishment hours before the official opening at 10 a.m. that day, bearing the rain. Some customers arrived just moments after Jenny Lopez herself got to the store, around 7 a.m.
“One lady pulled up and they had folding chairs and they were the first ones out there with their three boys, waiting in line just as happy as they could be,” Jenny Lopez said.
The shop has already fostered a diverse customer pool of “LEGO adults,” college students and youth, according to Tony Lopez. Some of these customers have become regulars over the mere two weeks the location has been open.
Aside from selling official LEGO products, the store works with small businesses, like Brick Bling by Jill, Big Kid Brix, Go Figure Displays, and Made Happy. These businesses produce LEGO-adjacent and LEGO-compatible products.
Bricks & Minifigs Bowling Green at 2800 Scottsville Rd. Suite 3 is open from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The store can be reached at (270) 495-1118.
“It’s been awesome, and it’s weird to be in a business where people thank you for opening it,” Tony Lopez said.
News Reporter Kane Smith can be reached at [email protected].
