Hayward locals know Brick by Brick Toys as a place to buy LEGO sets and pieces, or gather for parties and building meetups. On Christmas Eve 2024, this community spirit was tested when not one but two sets of thieves drove their vehicles through the glass to rob the store.
Owner Mike Marinakis recalls, “I was up at like 5:30 in the morning with the police getting locked back up, then I went home for a couple hours.” He had planned to open the store Christmas Eve morning for last-minute shoppers. But when he returned at 8am, he saw another vehicle had driven through one of the windows. “My alarm hadn’t gone off. They ran inside and stole a bunch of stuff.”
Photos courtesy of Mike Marinakis
The thieves didn’t stop at stealing box sets. “The truly Grinch part was I had this Lego Christmas village set up on this white sheet, this little village and train, and they wrapped it up like a sack…threw it over their shoulder, and just bolted out of the store, leaving a trail of Christmas behind them.
“It has almost zero resale value,” Marinakis adds. “It’s not new, they can’t resell it. It almost seemed like they were doing it just to be mean….It was very much a Grinch situation.”
Marinakis chronicled the break in on the store’s Instagram @bxbtoys. “I posted about it on Instagram, just being like ‘Pity me, this sucks.’ The amount of support I got from that was crazy. I had so many people show up on Christmas Eve morning to bring me food, to help me clean up all the broken glass, to get things boarded up, just to give support. It was so nice.
“And it really showed me the community we built only in a few years,” continues Marinakis. “How people appreciated the story, the relationships that I built with my customers.”
In February, Marinakis posted again on social media, thanking the city for their response and for installing bollards to prevent another vehicle from driving through the shop’s window. This year, the Christmas village has been restored, with additions from fans of the shop.
Photos courtesy of Mike Marinakis
“It sucked, it was expensive, but it was a nice moment afterward because I could see how much people appreciate what we’re doing in the community,” says Marinakis.
Brick by Brick Toys
24048 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward
510.274.5508
bxbtoys.com
