What is Brickstory?
Founded in 1932, The LEGO Group started producing their first plastic bricks in 1946, just one year after the end of World War II. Three years later, in 1949, LEGO released the first set known as “Automatic Binding Bricks”, and it contained 142 LEGO bricks. Starting in 1950, LEGO began releasing the 700 series sets – 7 in all – but they were not yet branded as “LEGO”. These sets were essentially what we would call “bulk bricks”. There were no instructions for a specific model – just suggestions on how to use your imagination to build with these basic construction elements. It wasn’t until 1953 that the sets started to get the LEGO moniker, and not until 1958 that the “modern” brick was developed and produced – and they still connect to the same bricks made today. Currently in 2021, while producing over 78,000 pieces every minute, The LEGO Group turns out over 800 different named sets every year, ranging in size from 12 to 9,000+ pieces.
Over the past 71 years from 1950 to 2021, The LEGO Group has released well over 10,000 sets, produced over 400 billion bricks, created 4 billion minifigures, become the world’s largest tire manufacturer (400 million per year), and grown to be the largest toy company on the planet. Brickstory is an interactive experience and visual display of all that has happened in between… a vast collection of pristine, original LEGO artifacts including thousands of sets, minifigures, rare collectors’ items, catalogs, posters, promotional materials, community builds, and much more. Brickstory – brought to you by Bricknowlogy – will be the single space to experience it all… to share your stories and ideas with others, to learn and to laugh, to relive all the memories over the years, and to see things you’ve never seen before from LEGO – past, present and future. Brickstory is the History of the Brick.
The Story of Brickstory
In 1972, Dean Barry received his first LEGO set, the 603 Vintage Car, released in 1970 – and that started it all. Over the next 40+ years, Dean dove deep into the world of LEGO, collecting thousands of sets and countless minifigures, while acquiring unique LEGO artifacts through various contacts from around the world. In 2014, Dean founded Bricknowlogy, turning his passion for LEGO into a distinctive, construction-based toy store featuring the largest selection of factory-direct LEGO products in the USA. Bricknowlogy is now one of the largest independent LEGO-authorized stores in the country – and in 2017 was awarded LEGO’s coveted GOLD Standard status.
Since opening in 2014, Dean’s focus has always been on sharing his passion for LEGO and all its possibilities, inspiring builders young and old alike, and sharing “The Collection” with the community. Frequently, small portions of Dean’s collection would be on display at Bricknowlogy for customers to browse and reminisce – and the response was overwhelming! Over these past seven years, Dean has been contemplating on how best to share that passion and inspiration with the rest of the world… and now that vision is ready to take shape in Brickstory!
Every “Brick” has a Story
There’s a story behind every LEGO set and minifigure… a LEGO story, a story in Time, and a Personal story – and they’re all interesting and important. LEGO stories often include background information on its “theme”, or fun facts on its release / retirement, its lifespan, unique parts, special functionality, future or past variations, set designer, production challenges, paucity, market value, popularity, on so on. Stories in time include “real-world” stories are about what was going on in the world we live in as these sets or minifigs came to life… current events, movies / television shows, cultural or regional happenings – all the things that shape our world. And finally, and most unique, is every one of these LEGO items has a personal story… when it was purchased or received, who purchased it and why, special events in your life, and all those memories that make you actually shout out, “I remember that set!”, or “Wow, that’s my first fire truck!”. And then, there are the “MOC” stories - My Own Creations. Brickstory is a place for all the fans of LEGO to share their MOCs with us and the rest of the world. There are so many amazing and talented builders from all walks of life - and we’re excited to be able to showcase those creations and their stories all right here.
This is why we’re building Brickstory.
Bringing Brickstory to Life
49 years in the making, Dean is now bringing it all together in one space, and it’s going to be huge – literally and figuratively! With tremendous support and input from our local community here in Idaho’s Treasure Valley, Dean and the rest of the Bricknowlogy team have been planning, testing, and refining the Brickstory concept. They’ve been organizing the collection, finalizing display options, building sets, and writing stories for all of it. And now, with your support, we’re getting ready for the final step… to bring Brickstory to Life!
Depending upon funding levels, Brickstory will include the following main features:
- 10,000 - 20,000 square foot total space, with parking for up to 100 vehicles
- Main Gallery featuring thousands of LEGO sets – facts, figures, and stories for each
- Thousands of Minifigures – facts, figures, and stories for each
- MOC (My Own Creation) featured displays from all around the LEGO community
- Event Room for Parties, Build Nights, STEM Classes, Camps, etc.
- Play / Free-Build Area for all ages, including a Toddler space with huge foam bricks
- Food / Snack area with visual access to the Toddler space
- Video / VR-gaming Space for LEGO-themed virtual entertainment
- Bricknowlogy – the largest retail store and gift shop for all things LEGO
Brickstory – A National Destination
Bricknowlogy has been serving Idaho’s Treasure Valley for over 7 years, and we are forever grateful to the community for its outpouring of support and loyalty. But our customer base and support also extends way beyond the Valley. Bricknowlogy consistently provides LEGO products and services across the entire state and well into the surrounding region, including Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana. It is fairly common for many of our customers to take a long drive across state lines just to see us – and then, of course, spend some time enjoying all the wonderful experiences Idaho and Treasure Valley have to offer.
Every year, Bricknowlogy pulls in well over 30,000 customers – right here in Eagle, Idaho. And every year, both customer traffic and sales revenue increase by double-digits. The quality and selection we have to offer is unmatched. And the Bricknowlogy team is built on years of LEGO expertise, with some of the best builders and LEGO story-tellers around. In a world where the popular narrative states that “brick and mortar is dead”, we have consistently proven that there is a real hunger for in-person, tactile experiences – especially for something as unique and tangible as Brickstory. Now imagine that on a scale that is many multiples larger and filled with the largest public display in the country (world?) of LEGO products from the last 70 years… Brickstory will be the destination for all things LEGO in the US. And we are so excited to bring all of that to LEGO friends and fans of all ages, from all across this great nation.
Although Bricknowlogy is a fully authorized LEGO Gold Standard Toy Store, neither Bricknowlogy nor Brickstory are directly affiliated with The LEGO Company or The LEGO Group.
Brickstory Facts – The Collection
- 7000+ Unique LEGO Sets – most are pristine and never opened… until now!
- 9000+ Unique Minifigures – most new and all pristine!
- 100+ Different LEGO Themes
- 100s of Rare Sets and Collectors’ Items
- 64 years of sets dating to 1957
- 500+ unique Star Wars sets
- 500+ different LEGO Cars
- 500+ various Aircraft (Planes, Helis, etc)
- 450+ Police / Fire / Rescue / First Responders
- 250+ Classic Town sets
- 250+ Friends sets
- 250+ Technic sets
- 200+ Ninjago sets
- 200+ Trains, Train Cars, Train Accessories
- 200+ Classic Space sets
- 150+ Classic Castle sets
- 2,000,000+ pieces
- The 100% complete line of dozens of themes, including Minecraft, Ultra Agents, LEGO Movie, Lord of the Rings, Mixels, Collectible Minifigures, Creator Expert, Architecture, Vikings, Elves, BrickHeadz, and more…
Additional Activities in the Main Showroom
Throughout the showroom, fans of all ages will be able to participate in the many challenges, games, and activities. Here are just a few examples:
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Brickture This! – A fun game where you need to find where a particular close-up photo was taken, somewhere in the showroom.
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Find-A-Fig – Locate a specific minifigure hiding in any one of the dozens of large display scenes.
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Find the Golden Eggs – How many can you find?
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Concentration – Find matching sets in various locations throughout all of Brickstory
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Guess the Pieces – See how close you come to guessing the piece-counts in various models or sections of Brickstory
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Trivia Q&A – Hundreds of Fun Facts, Trivia, and Brain Teasers will be sprinkled everywhere
The Events Room and STEM Classes
The new Events Room will be a flexible, multi-purpose space used to host Birthday Parties, STEM-based Classes and Camps, and special after-hours events for adult build nights, parties, and just socializing all things LEGO… with food and drinks, of course.
Brickstory will expand upon the existing Bricknowlogy class offering, including new Mindstorms classes for robotics and programming as well as many others focused on enhanced “free-building” skills. The super-popular “Build Your Mind” class will return, plus many new classes teaching advanced skills such as Micro-scale, Technic / Engineering, Mosaics, and Modeling. We’ll even have classes for adults including special sessions on sorting and organizing your collections.
Birthday parties will continue at Brickstory just as they are now at Bricknowlogy – for all ages. We’ve hosted thousands of parties, ranging in age from 5 to 65, and almost every age in between. There will be more room for larger events and more space to build. When booking parties, you will also have the option of including the Brickstory showroom and activity centers into your package. Logistics and pricing is still in development, but it will be a very unique way to spend a birthday!
Spending the Day(s) at Brickstory
At 15,000 square feet and with thousands of models, minifigures, and artifacts – each with their own story – it’s going to take many hours to peruse the 70 years of LEGO at Bricknowlogy’s Brickstory. If you went quickly and spent only 30 seconds at each item, it would still take over 130 hours to view it all. And that’s not including the other activities like the Free-Build Room or Gaming Hub. And Brickstory will constantly be changing – adding new displays, celebrating various holidays throughout the year, showcasing new MOCs from around the world, and regularly acquiring additional vintage / rare collectors’ items. You’ll definitely want to visit over and over again. So with all that to take in, you could easily spend several days at Brickstory and still not see it all. The best part is that there will literally be fun for everyone! From the toddler build room and robotics lab to the VR Gaming and interactive challenges, to the 16,000+ artifacts – everyone will have lots of activities to choose from! You can split up and do your own thing, or spend the day together – it’s up to you!
Sound Awesome? Here’s How You Can Help…
This is a very exciting time for all us working on Brickstory. The first and easiest thing you can do is to spread the word… please share this page and our videos to all your friends and family – or anyone you know that thinks this would be an amazing addition to the world of LEGO.
After that, we really need a home! We’re looking to acquire an existing structure, or more likely purchase an acre of land somewhere here in the Treasure Valley, and build Brickstory right out of the ground. So, if you know of a large space or would like to donate a space – empty land or vacant building – that’s centrally located with easy access, please reach out to us. There’s already a “test fit” for the floorplan, and we’re even in the process of building a virtual model of Brickstory – using LEGO virtual bricks, of course! We have a budget of $6M for the project, with secured funding for the first $2MM. We’re launching this Indiegogo project to help us reach our next milestone of $4MM total, so we've set an initial goal of $2MM here - but the more we can raise, the more we can build and display to the world! All contributions go directly towards the construction / acquisition of the physical location and the build-out. If we are blessed to receive donations above that amount, we’ll be able to offer more interactive displays, a greater showroom experience, and better security systems to ensure everything stays safe. Although we need all of your donations to go directly to construction, we’re offering some very attractive rewards to our early contributors. And everyone who contributes $125 or more will get their name on a custom-printed LEGO brick(s) permanently added to the Wall of Sponsors at the Brickstory entrance. But no contribution is too small, as we are well aware of the many challenges that have arisen over the past year. We continue to be forever grateful for everyone who has helped us get to where we are today and for all of you are just learning about us for the first time and asking to help. Even just spreading the word and sharing this page helps us out tremendously.
So now that we have our arms around the collection, as well as the historical success of the retail store and experience from our test models, we’re ready to bring Brickstory to the world. We have the artifacts, information, historical data, business plan, and tremendous local support. And we’ve even made sure it’s “pandemic proof” with comprehensive social distancing options and proven processes to ensure we maintain extremely high standards for sanitizing and disinfecting. Hopefully that won’t be necessary, but we are ready! Bricknowlogy revenue rose 55% in 2020 as compared to 2019 – and it continues to rise - up another 60% in 2021. Customer traffic was also up, rising 38%. LEGO is more popular than ever, so we can’t wait to dig in – literally.
And finally… we’re also going to need some help building these 7,000 sets! More information on that as we progress. Please check back for regular updates, including the Brickstory Vault Set of the Day, Minifigure of the Day, “Then and Now” comparisons, and much more. Until then, please spread the word!
