Many people collect things. Some collect pins, stickers or stamps, but Doug Davis, or “Lego Doug” as he’s known in the Lego community, is the owner of It’s A Block Party, collects Lego and a lot of them.
Davis has always been fascinated with Lego, which isn’t a surprise, considering his father, a carpenter, was also obsessed with all things Lego. One of Davis’ earlier memories is when he built an 8-foot by 8-foot spaceship on the hood of his dad’s car, which inherently made it hard to drive.
“A lot of guys talk about their “dark ages” because they went to college or they got married and I never had that,” he explained. “I’ve always played with Lego.”
If you visited the store’s old location on the corner of Madison Avenue and Main Street, walking into its new location on Southport Road will be a big surprise.
Davis estimates the new store has upwards of three million bricks inside and if there is a set or piece you want, he either has it, or can make a few phone calls and get the piece for you. He’s got connections.
On Black Friday, Davis opened his store at its new location, just across the street from Long’s Bakery, close to where he grew up.
“I’ve never lived more than 10 minutes from where I grew up,” he said.
Although his shop is close to home, Davis also travels frequently to Lego shows all across the country.
“We’ve been coast to coast. We’ve had shows all along the east coast and California.” Davis explained. “Before COVID, we were doing 30 to 40 shows a year.”
Davis jokes that if you look at his Google photo map, you can see a line across the country from all of their Lego travels.
All that traveling, he’s been able to fine tune his setup. Now, he rolls with a custom, 18-foot trailer packed tightly full of Lego in addition to his brand new truck. That he traded Legos for.
He was able to trade Lego sets… For a new truck.
Traveling aside, Davis and his team have spent the past three months designing and building the layout for the new location.
As you walk in, prepare to be greeted by thousands of tiny mini figures and some of the stores’ rarest sets for sale as well as a window where they handle purchases and trade-ins. From the front door, you can see directly to the back of the store, which is something Davis said he wanted to do after moving from his 800-square foot store to his now, 5,000-square foot space. When designing the new store, he wanted it to feel open and not crowded like his other location.
“I’ve lost business from the old store because it was so small,” Davis said.
He hopes the people who left the old store give them a second chance in their new location.
After walking past the 10,000 mini figures staring at you, floor to ceiling shelving units hold hundreds of new lego sets including plenty of “Harry Potter,” “Star Wars,” and a multitude of other sets.
In the middle of the room are bins of every imaginable part and are sold by the cup. Purchasing by the pound is also available. He’ll even sell you a pallet if you want it. Next to the cups of legos is a long table where you can build your own mini figure. Davis even had special torsos made to celebrate the inaugural opening of the new space.
Walking into the store, it’s hard to miss the huge “Star Wars” Battle of Geonosis display that is normally 20-feet-long but the space in the store limits it. Still, the massive lego creation sits on a reinforced table in the store that will be updated on a monthly basis with different large-scale creations. Davis said a lot of people who start large-scale builds like this lay it out in a program where they can create plans for the build, but Davis doesn’t do that.
“I’m a cut twice, measure once kind of guy,” he said jokingly.
It’s a process of trial and error but he said it’s more fun to do it his way.
If you look carefully at the center of the droid battle, you can see a tiny Doug in his It’s A Block Party shirt running away from the enemy droids. A few steps around the large build is the final puzzle piece, or Lego brick to this build.
The birthday room. Davis plans to be able to host lego-themed birthday parties with building space and a spot for parents to sit and watch, or join the fun.
The new store has something for everyone, no matter their interest or age as well as price range.
It’s A Block Party is located in the heart of Southport at 2220 E Southport Rd, Indianapolis, IN 46227 and is open on Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday from 12-5 p.m.
