John’s Box of Bricks Sparks Imagination

Seven years ago, John Donovan came across an article suggesting that LEGO bricks had become more valuable than gold bullion. That simple discovery would soon reshape his career and passion.

“I’ve been building with LEGO all my life,” he said.

At the time, Donovan was working as chief financial officer for an international irrigation company. But intrigued by the collectible potential of the Danish building blocks, he began selling sets online. Demand exploded, and what began as a side hustle quickly turned into a full-time venture. “It just kept getting bigger and bigger!”

That momentum led to the opening of John’s Box of Bricks, a dedicated LEGO store in downtown Prescott. On opening day, 20 LEGO fans eagerly waited at the front door. Within a year, Donovan outgrew his original shop and moved across the hall to a larger space in the Old Firehouse Plaza, across from Limoncello Pizzeria Napoletana.

The new storefront is twice the size and features an event room for themed birthday parties and social LEGO-building events tailored to both kids and adults. It also supports a growing team – what started as just Donovan and his wife has now expanded to 10 employees. When hiring, he says he is more interested in someone’s customer service background than in their experience with LEGO.

Inside the store, visitors find a dazzling variety of LEGO sets, ranging from nostalgic classics to advanced collector editions. From soccer fields to steamboats, Star Wars to Harry Potter, jazz bands to the Beatles, Donovan stocks sets that spark creativity across generations.

“We’ve had customers from 3 to 93,” he said. Surprisingly, most customers are adults. While children’s sets generally cost under $50, adult kits often fetch between $400 and $600 – and many are rare, discontinued models that cannot be found in stores.

Donovan keeps his pricing competitive and his stock diverse. LEGO produces about 800 new sets each year, but Donovan’s shop holds between 1,000 and 1,500 at any given time, offering options for every level of builder.

“Beginners would not want to start with a LEGO that was a thousand pieces,” Donovan said, likening the experience to learning jigsaw puzzles. “You start with the easier ones and work your way up.”

The store also features a hands-on building area stocked with LEGO bricks, where kids – and adults – are encouraged to sit and build.

“It is the most popular thing for people to do when they come in the store,” Donovan said. “It’s not unusual for that area to get crowded and customers to work on it for an hour or two.”

He calls building with LEGO bricks therapeutic. “It’s good for the brain, especially the eye-to-hand coordination. Our employees help people build their skill level.”

Creativity at John’s Box of Bricks comes in many forms – whether it’s modifying a steamboat set by placing Elvis at the helm or combining kits to build entire cities, complete with police stations, firehouses and skyscrapers.

“Some people have an entire room of LEGO creations,” Donovan said.

Some builds are even functional. Customers can find a LEGO radio that works with a phone and a rotating globe that mirrors the real thing. “One of our most popular items is the floral LEGO,” he added.

The store also offers seasonal LEGO camps during school breaks. Donovan said those sessions, especially for kids, fill up as soon as they’re announced. Around the holidays, he plans to donate creations made by young builders to the Boys & Girls Club.

Adults, too, are finding their way back to LEGO – not only for the challenge, but for the sense of nostalgia. For collectors, Donovan offers advice on preserving sets for value. He recommends storing bricks from each kit separately, wrapped in plastic, rather than tossing them together. For displayed sets, regular dusting is essential.

Now with online sales through Walmart and Amazon, plus a bi-monthly auction business, John’s Box of Bricks is more than a shop – it’s a movement of imagination in motion. “We get locals and visitors from all over the country,” Donovan said. “Because we’re in the Old Firehouse Plaza, we get a lot of foot traffic.”

But perhaps the best reward comes when new visitors walk through the door and stare in wonder.

Donovan sees it again and again – the same look he once had as a kid discovering LEGO for the first time.

“They look like someone who entered Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory,” he said. QCBN

By Stan Bindell, QCBN

For more information, visit johnsboxofbricks.com or call 928-277-8870.