Front pages ‘Lego lady’ builds anew

Bottomless Bricks to reopen in Pittsfield

By Meg Britton-Mehlisch

PITTSFIELD — The coronavirus pandemic could have put an end to Erin Laundry’s Lego business. Instead, it gave her time to grow, presented her an opportunity at stardom and provided the second wind that is bringing her business, Bottomless Bricks, to a new location in Pittsfield.

This spring, Laundry and her husband, Shane, will open the second iteration of Bottomless Bricks at 163 South St. Laundry said she’s signing the lease soon and has tentative plans to open in April.

“It’s kind of like the blessing at the end of the nightmare,” Laundry said. “There were so many dark times during the pandemic where I questioned if we’d ever be in this place again.”

Laundry said she often gets recognized as the “Lego lady” when she’s out and about in the Berkshires with her Lego purse in tow. But residents may be more familiar with Laundry from her stint on national TV last fall.

Laundry and teammate Liz Puleo were one of 12 teams to compete on season three of Fox’s “Lego Masters” hosted by comedian and actor Will Arnett. Laundry and Puleo made it halfway through the 12-week competition.

The debut of team “moms” — Laundry and Puleo’s team — was well watched in Pittsfield, where friends, family and supporters gathered at the Colonial Theatre’s Garage to watch the kickoff of the season.

Laundry said her time on “Lego Masters” has given her the kind of “incredible boost that I really needed after the takedown of the pandemic.”

“I didn’t know if lightning could strike twice,” Laundry said, recalling how promising things had seemed when Bottomless Bricks first opened. “Fortunately, because of the excitement and buzz around Lego Masters, it really is kind of like my second chance to take this where I wanted to take it to begin with.”

BUILDING ON A DREAM

Laundry started doing popup Lego parties for family and friends in 2018. After a year of being told the concept was good enough for its own space, Laundry signed the lease at 57 Park St. in Adams and opened Bottomless Bricks in October 2019.

The party and retail space was so successful that the Laundrys considered moving to a bigger spot after only three months of business. Laundry had just graduated from the inaugural cohort of Entrepreneurship for All’s accelerator program, and it seemed like a good time to grow the business.

The start of the coronavirus pandemic in

March 2020 changed all that.

“Birthday parties ceased to be a thing anymore,” Laundry said.

Laundry said she tried to take what she’d learned in the accelerator program and pivot during the pandemic. For several months she delivered “creativity to-go kits” with a pound of Lego bricks and mini figures.

“After a few months I stopped driving myself crazy trying to figure out what the next month would bring,” Laundry said. “I just decided to put everything on pause, but we didn’t give up on the dream.”

With the storefront closed down, the Laundrys moved their store’s worth of Lego into their basement for safekeeping. Laundry said her husband used the move as a way to stay sane during the pandemic, spending his time organizing their catalog of kits and pieces.

The basement turned into a kind of model factory that Laundry was able to use to audition for Lego Masters.

“It kind of all works out in this really bizarre way,” Laundry said.

WHAT’S IN STORE

When she wasn’t working on her audition tape, Laundry said she was spending her pandemic days taking webinars through 1Berkshire and working on her business model. Over the last year, she’s joined the small business technical assistance program at the Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire.

She said she now feels like the pieces have fallen into place to bring back Bottomless Bricks.

The new Pittsfield space will be bigger and better than the original Bottomless Bricks location in Adams, Laundry said. The front of the space will be dedicated to an expanded retail space and the back of the store will have a dedicated party space.

Bottomless Bricks’ signature racing ramp will return for kids to race Lego vehicles and there will be a building wall where people can build out their most creative designs vertically. The much loved mini figure factory will return as well.

Laundry said when the business opens up this spring, Bottomless Bricks will offer a buysell-trade program for kids to trade in old Lego sets for new ones. She said Bottomless Bricks will also build out its community events with STEM workshops and Lego robotics.

In the meantime, Bottomless Bricks is returning to its roots with community events at local libraries and community spaces. This week, Laundry will join Hot Plate Brewery as part of its “First Ten” events for the 10x10 Festival.

On Tuesday, at 7 p.m. Laundry will host Bricks and Brews at the brewery. The event, which is for people 21 and older, will offer customers a chance to build some Lego, buy from small sets and talk with Laundry about her experience on Lego Masters.