Passion spurs Burnett to open Brickhouse
Burnett said he hopes to create a “one-stop shop” for collectors of all lines. A grand opening is planned during normal business hours Saturday, Sept. 5.
“It’s going really well in spite of us being in the midst of a pandemic, and Knoxville being a ‘hot spot,’ people are still coming, still shopping, still spending,” he said.
With LEGOS as his key product line, Burnett carries both new and retired pieces.
“One of our distinctions between us and (a department store) is we will both carry the new stuff, but once it becomes retired or out of print (the other stores) will move on from it because they only have so much shelf space,” he said. “I’m willing to give as much shelf space as possible to LEGOS.”
Additionally, Burnett has comics, sports cards, high-end movie and comic statues, smaller toys and figurines and games, which range from the family board games to the complicated strategic tabletop sets.
He will buy or trade items and deal with used items as well.
The plan to open his own business started after Burnett was laid off from his job as a procurement manager at the end of last year, then faced the coronavirus pandemic.
He recalled everything was thrown into a spiral, but Burnett chose to make lemonade out of those lemons and open his own business with products he knows well.
“These are all the products, all the lines — the collectibles, the LEGOS, the comics, the games, the cards — have been things I have been passionate about and have loved and collected through the course of my life, from childhood until now,” Burnett said.
“I’ve had this bug — or itch — in the back of my mind that it would be a great opportunity to take a step forward to starting my own business to provide for the family versus working for somebody else,” he added. “So, I worked up a business plan and talked it over with my wife, Mihoko.
“And this was being done just as things were really starting to get bad out there (with COVID-19) in the March time frame. In spite of all that, we decided to keep trudging ahead and keep working (the business plan).”
Burnett felt the pandemic situation was temporary.
“We certainly didn’t want to let this temporary situation affect us in a way that would make us not do something we wanted to do and hold us back,” he said.
“This first month has really been incredible — in spite of everything,” Burnette added. “The response has been great from the community. All the fans of the different lines … (have) come out in droves to look at the shop because we’re in a nice little pocket here.
“There’s not really a big LEGO support, short of your big box stores. You have to go to Nashville or Cincinnati or Atlanta to get a LEGO-branded store.”
About its popularity, “There’s a huge LEGO community in the area — lots of fans, lots of builders, they’re called AFOLs (adult fans of LEGO). There also are many groups of like-minded individuals, like LUGS (LEGO user group).
Burnett said.
“It’s certainly hitting all the nice notes right now,” he added. ”Then, with the comics, games and sports cards, ‘Magic: The Gathering,’ Pokemon and other lines, it kind of crosses over the fan base, and it makes sense to have these things all in one place.
Brickhouse Collectibles currently is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Thursday; from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday; and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday.
For more information, call 865-392-1019.
