NEWPORT, Ky. – If someone can think of it, they can build it at a new cafe that’s the first of its kind in Newport.
The unique business model offers kids and adults alike the chance to have some fun and flex their creativity with one of the world’s most popular toy brands.
Things have come full circle for Daniel Johnson. As a kid, he’d build whatever came to his mind with LEGO. He’s now done the same thing on a much larger scale with the Brickery Cafe and Play.
“The idea was to have a place where you can not only buy LEGO but also hang out and build it in a social setting,” Johnson said. “First, it’s just confusion; coming in and saying, 'What the heck is this place?' Then we explain it, and then it’s excitement.”
Johnson said he believes it's the world’s first LEGO cafe. The retail section offers LEGO sets customers can buy to take home, and some are quite rare.
They can also fill up a box with as many loose bricks as they can fit or build their own mini figure. Another option is to rent specific sets to build while they’re in the cafe. Those are marked with estimated build times.
Generic assortments of LEGO are at every table, which are free to customers.
“It’s somewhere you can come and just relax, bring the kids; everybody loves LEGO," said customer Jennifer Smith-Bui. "I think it’s really fun to have the chance to play with them and not feel like you have to buy the big sets if you don’t want to; you can just have some fun with it.”
Coming soon, Johnson said, is the Play Portal, a children’s museum experience. Customers can also build their own specialty sodas at the counter.
For Johnson, the whole experience is a dream come true, he said.
“I wanted to be an architect when I grew up; LEGO gave me immediate access to that dream," he said. "I could build the buildings that I saw in my mind with LEGO bricks. As an adult, I found it therapeutic. If I was working on building a set, that was one of the few times where I wasn’t worried about all the other stuff going on in my life or in the world.”
It's a feeling he wanted to share with others.
“It’s just this great process and a really high quality product, where you’re going from a pile of stuff or a pile of bricks to something that’s really beautiful or cool," Johnson added. "Every time, it’s using the same tool, but you end up with a wildly different result. It’s just something that I think is for everyone, and it’s not just for the young. It’s also for the young at heart.”
Johnson said business has gone well since he opening Dec. 1, despite a few challenges.
It was a leap of faith that he will continue to fine-tune. But the satisfaction of snapping all the separate components into place is tough to beat, Johnson said.