Lego store to open in River Park Square
Oct. 17—Next month, Spokane kids and expert architects alike may be able to cut down their travel time to experience the wide world of Lego.
Without a specific opening date, the iconic company announced plans to open a 3,003-square-foot space at River Park Square in downtown Spokane just in time for the holidays.
"You can shop online, but this is going to be different," Elisabeth Hooker, marketing and programming director for Downtown Spokane Partnership said. "It's going to be much more than a transactional purchase — it's going to be an experience."
At 808 West Main Street, unit 12, renovation of the space previously occupied by North Face was estimated at $590,000, according to building permits submitted to the City of Spokane.
At the store, customers will be able to participate in monthly building competitions, choose from a wide selection of legs, heads, hair pieces and accessories to design their own personalized mini-figures, and enthusiasts can peruse the many brick choices to complete their most complex builds.
Though the announcement earlier this year was big news, this isn't the first Lego store in Spokane. That honor goes to the locally owned and operated Brick Buy Brick in the Garland District which opened in April.
While the store sells some similar merchandise to official Lego stores, Frankie Foote, who runs the store with her boyfriend Bryce Colvin, isn't concerned about competition with the River Park Square location.
According to previous Spokesman-Review reports, Foote looked to similar stores in the Seattle area, which said the presence of official Lego stores can only be good for business and the hobby itself.
At $9.2 billion of annual revenue, Denmark-based Lego Group is the biggest toy company in the world and caters to both children and adults.
"This is exactly what we wanted to add to downtown," Hooker said. "With Flatstick Pub and Wiz Kids nearby, children will have great entertainment opportunities in the area — but adults will love it, too."
Adults fans of Legos, also known as AFOLs, can be visionary architects who sell instructions to their original builds or participants in the many competitions around the world, most notably Lego Masters, a televised tournament in which the winner takes homes $100,000.
The new location will the company's fourth in Washington but its first in the Spokane area.
"The unique offering of local and national retailers is what makes downtown Spokane a shopping destination for over 300 miles," Hooker said.
"I think people will come from a long ways away just for Legos, and they will also visit the locally owned businesses nearby, too."
According to Hooker, the addition of the company is important to the work of Downtown Spokane Partnership.
"We're excited to see that Lego is building a future in Spokane as we're looking to build Spokane."
