Walking through Lismore’s elegant Starcourt Arcade, a new burst of colour appears in one of its little shops, instantly prompting two children to squeal in delight: ‘Legoooooo!’.
But it isn’t a toy store tantalising customers with brightly painted offerings built of tiny plastic parts.
‘We’re opening up a Lego café,’ a bearded gentleman inside says, his small daughter smiling beside him.
The pair appears to be engaged in arranging furniture and unpacking what else but Lego.
Their new family-run venture will have ‘more emphasis on the Lego than the café,’ Andrew Haagensen says, introducing himself and eight-year-old Talia.
Cabin fever solution in city centre famous for rain
The arcade hideaway in Lismore’s city centre is to be ‘a space for families to come and kids to put together the Lego sets’ available, the father of three says, ‘or something to do when it’s raining outside or too cold’.
‘We’re going to have a space eventually for kids’ parties,’ Mr Haagensen says, ‘that’s something I think Lismore definitely needs’.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mr Haagensen turns out to himself be an undying Lego fan.
The Lismore local isn’t a high-flying company exec looking to cash in on a city still in disaster recovery, rather, it’s his first time turning a childhood passion into a business.
‘I’m actually a refrigeration technician, so this is not my area of expertise,’ the tradie-turned-café owner says.
‘I’ve got kids and I live in Lismore and when it’s raining, we stay home and get cabin fever,’ Mr Haagenson says, ‘so I thought, Lismore needs something, no one else is doing anything, let’s do it, let’s jump in’.
Flood mitigation for a million tiny pieces
Jumping into a city famous for its flooding is no mean business but looking around the split-level space, it’s clear damage risks, at least, have been minimised.
Aside from the Lego itself being made of plastic, furniture and fittings appear mostly made from durable-looking, yet light-weight materials such as plastic and board, with a polished floor and a metal kitchen fit-out is almost ready for action.
The café is still being set up but looks like it would be fairly simple to dismantle in a hurry, with an exposed brick wall adding warmth and old-world charm to a space that could otherwise feel slightly clinical – at least, until young customers start to arrive.
Lego parts are all filed neatly in green and yellow labelled plastic tub drawers, while impressive builds are displayed on black shelves beneath the café counter.
Lego has come a long way since the days where endless multi-coloured bricks that get caught in-between toes were all that was on offer, although to be sure, there are even more of those than ever.
Nowadays there are many homeware design options for keeping thousands of the bits and pieces together or categorised according to customers’ wishes but more importantly, for children, at least, the parts come in all shapes and sizes.
The only limit to Lego part design now appears to be the imagination.
There are literally bells and whistles, ribbons and bows, swinging doors and limbs, and wailing sirens available, depending on the design kits in question.
Elaborate, expensive designs available to share
One of the built Lego objects on display in Lismore’s new café appears to have all of the above – it’s some sort of very flashy model car – but there is so much action packed in the one toy it’s hard to focus on any one element.
Meanwhile, its neighbour, a large figurine described by the other eight-year-old in the room as a ‘humongous dragon turtle’, is also recognised by the boy as a character from iconic game and screen series Super Mario Brothers.
‘He’s King of The Koopas,’ Mr Haagenson adds, trying to help. A factcheck later showed he didn’t mean the same-sounding beer brand.
To the inexperienced eye, the objects on display appear as vintage toys, with no obvious link to Lego but Mr Haagenson says the creature known as Bowser took him and his son four days to build from Lego parts.
The yellow plastic figurine vaguely resembles a gremlin or a troll and has, Mr Haagenson thinks, 2803 pieces.
The company releases new ‘bricks’ every year, he says, ‘that just change what the possibilities are with what you can build’.
‘Lego is very clever with creating Lego sets that are expensive, but the kids that love playing with them are now adults with disposable income and some of us are silly enough to buy it,’ he laughs.
Dungeons and Dragons to feature in make-believe paradise
The two children who spotted the café-in-the-making, Kaea and Gabriela Armitage Mohi*, are suitably impressed but eager to know what will be available for customers their age to build and Mr Haagenson lists a few designs.
‘City Lego; we’ve got some Minecraft Lego,’ he says, ‘we’ve got a bit of Technic… what else… we’ll have some Star Wars and we’ve got some of the old Elves Lego, which is like the Friends** Lego but I think it’s a bit cooler’.
‘Then we’ve got some bigger Lego sets on display but they will also be available for some of the older people who want to give it a go,’ he says.
As well as the big Bowser and what turned out to be the Ghostbusters car already on display, Mr Haagenson says he will soon have a Lego Viking village and a Viking ship.
‘There’s the new El Dorado fortress set which I have ordered,’ he says, ‘and they just released, on April 1, a Dungeons and Dragons Lego set that also has a one shot game to play with it’.
Dungeons and Dragons is a longtime roleplaying fantasy game cult classic that seems to be having a revival in terms of popularity thanks partly to newly recognised benefits for youth struggling to socialise.
The game is also a regular feature in contemporary popular US TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
Mr Haagensen says kids who want to give the game ‘a go’ or ‘even anybody, really’, will be welcome to at Lismore’s new Lego café, The Brick Lounge, due to open in time for NSW school holidays this week.
Children to help find and sort Lego pieces
As for the huge Lego sculptures sometimes seen on the news, Mr Haagenson appears inspired by the idea but focused on smaller and faster-to-build sets for the café’s launch.
‘I’ve not considered a massive community build but that sounds like something that we could potentially do later on down the track,’ he says.
‘We’re just about to go put up posters and yeah, look forward to seeing everyone come in.’
Customers are to pay entry fees based on average expected lengths of time taken to build classed sets, he says.
Mr Haagenson hasn’t yet given up his day job, saying he has his partner’s support for the new project and will start by offering pod coffees as there are already ‘so many good cafés’ in Lismore.
Their children will be available in the shop, he says, ‘to help with finding Lego pieces if you’re struggling, or even sorting out the Lego into colours’.
A helping hand is always good when you’re struggling to find that Lego piece, Mr Haagenson says, while Talia says it’s going to be fun meeting all the children who come into the café.
For some, a helping hand or preferably more is nothing short of essential when trying to get hundreds of pieces scattered around a room tidied, so it’s something of a secret relief to think children going to the café might also pick up a few tips on how to organise their Lego… or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on part of the writer.
Texting end of day Monday, Mr Haagensen said the first day of business was ‘great’ and he was looking forward to ‘many more’.
* Children Kaea and Gabriela Armitage Mohi are nephew and niece to the writer
** Friends LEGO has nothing to do with the iconic nineties’ US TV sitcom, verified by fact none of the figurine specimens seen resembled actress Jennifer Aniston.
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