Toys are not just toys. They can spark a lifelong interest in science, a passion or a career. The first weekend in October introduces the first “Stack City Brick Con” in Hayward, a collaboration between Chabot College and Brick by Brick Toys where kids of all ages can learn engineering concepts hands-on through LEGO. But the story starts years earlier, when a Hayward teacher started a small business post-pandemic.
Mike Marinakis’ family has lived in Hayward for about a decade. Covid kicked off his interest in Lego, when his son was in kindergarten and Marinakis was teaching high school science over Zoom. “So we were stuck in our little house, trying to do our schools on Zoom and trying to keep ourselves busy. It turned into this thing where we would build and play with Lego after I was done teaching and he was done with his school.”
The hobby turned into reselling, and Marinakis set up an online store. “It got to the point where my garage was stuffed with bins and bins and bins of Lego. My wife [Anika] was a little bit over it.” Marinakis thought of his in-laws who ran a toy resale store in Eugene, Oregon. “The vibe was super cool. I thought, ‘I want to be the guy sitting behind the counter who chills in this store and plays with Lego and talks to people about toys all day.’”
Anika found a small 400-square-foot storefront nearby their Hayward home. Rents were low, and at least it would provide a storage space and a dropoff location. Marinakis was still working as a teacher. He recalls, “After school every day I would go to the store for a couple hours, and hang out and organize and maybe make a couple sales. Then I would be there all day Saturday, and I would take Sunday off, so I saw my kids at least a little bit.”
He also calls Anika the unsung hero of Brick by Brick. A paralegal, she took on the back end of running a business, from HR and payroll, to getting the proper licenses with the city.
After its start in 2022, the shop grew by word of mouth, expanding to a popup at Southland Mall that December, and then two other locations. Like a Lego structure, it kept building on itself. The current store is 3,000 square feet.
Marinakis also has a business partner now, Aya Shirai. A longtime LEGO fan who had previous experience working at a resale store, she first found Brick by Brick as a customer, and joined as an employee in early 2023, in Marinakis’ words, “with the understanding that if things went well and we got along that she would buy half the store and we’d work as partners.”
Things haven’t always snapped into place. The shop weathered two break-ins Dec. 24, 2024. However, after Marinakis posted on his Instagram, the community showed up to help clean broken glass and board up windows. “And it really showed me the community we built only in a few years, how people appreciated the store.”
Brick by Brick is one of many LEGO resellers. There are some legalities to observe: For example they sell “LEGO products,” not LEGO. Marinakis explains, “Lego only makes a set for maybe a year or two at a time, and they retire it and move onto something else.” Sets move to the third-party market. “They can get hard to find, the values go up and they become collectibles. So I’ve kind of hit on that part of the market. The stuff we have here is not stuff you’re going to find at Target or at the LEGO store.”
A place like Brick by Brick has a different and more low-key vibe compared with somewhere like the LEGO Discovery Center in Great Mall in Milpitas. Marinakis sells individual parts for builders, LEGO minifigures, old and new sets. There’s even an event space for building meetups and birthday parties. “We have a pretty wide customer base. All ages.”
With the shop established, Marinakis turned to another dream: a LEGO convention. Longrunning LEGO builder convention Bricks by the Bay hasn’t met since 2022, and he talked with organizers Baylug, hoping to bring back something similar. The Santa Clara Convention Center, where Bricks by the Bay met, was prohibitive. But closer to home, Chabot College was an option for a family-friendly LEGO weekend.
“Us with Baylug, with Chabot, with the Engineering Club, we’ve spent months now going back and forth coming up with ideas of how this would work,” says Marinakis. With help from Chabot’s engineering club, the day centers hands-on activities to teach concepts like buoyancy, center of mass and structural integrity. Kids can build LEGO boats with motors, time cars on a pinewood derby track, and compete to build the tallest tower and the strongest bridge. There’s also a DUPLO zone for toddlers, mini figure painting and scavenger hunts.
Mustafa Fana from the Engineering Club says that club officers were intrigued by the chance to integrate engineering concepts into a toy they remembered from childhood. “At first, I didn’t think our members would be interested in such an event or project,” he admits. “However, I was quickly proven wrong. I was amazed to see such passion kindled in [their eyes.] I was bombarded with ideas, designs and questions all centered around how we can make this experience as engaging and educational as possible.”
Because the event is part of the Engineering Club, there was no cost to rent the space, and admission is free. “[That] was our number one goal, we didn’t want there to be anything to prevent somebody from being able to come.”
This year, there isn’t food on site, but the college is close to Southland Mall and places like Black Bear Diner, Eon Coffee and Teaspoon on Hesperian Boulevard.
“I don’t know exactly how it’s going to go,” says Marinakis. “We’ve certainly planned enough and we’re going to have some cool stuff to see and some really fun stuff to do and build. I’m really excited about it.”
Stack City Brick Con
Saturday, Oct. 4 – Sunday, Oct. 5
10am – 7pm
Chabot College
Student Center, Bldg 2300, Hayward
bxbtoys.com/stack-city-brick-convention
What a good story of perseverance and the good old “follow your dream” idea. What a gift to the community.