Toneil Bricks - The Full Story

Welcome to our first blog post at Toneil Bricks! We have noticed a lot of AI blog posts flying around in the LEGO space, and whilst we were very tempted by the cheap and easy option to improve our Google rankings, we decided that writing the articles ourselves in-house would be much better for our readers. Because we are writing all of these posts manually, we are going to aim for 1 post per week. Check back regularly for more insights from the Toneil Bricks team (and excuse any grammatical errors!).

I feel it is only fitting our first post outlines the story of Toneil Bricks, and how LEGO changed my life for the better. It is a long one, and I apologise in advance, but hope at least one person finds it interesting. Cheers! Tom (Toneil Bricks manager). 

How it started

I collected LEGO sets as a child, and lost interest in favour of video games by the age of twelve. The pandemic hit in 2020 as I was about to turn eighteen. I struggled with my mental health throughout my teenage years, and the monotony of waking up, playing video games (taking them too seriously!), and going to sleep every day was really grinding me down. My parents were trying to find ANYTHING to get me off the computer. They found an unopened LEGO set (The Creator Expert Classic Mini Cooper 10242) in the garage, that I had been bought many years ago. After some convincing, I begrudgingly agreed to have a break, and build some LEGO!

Initially... I was bored! I was so used to the dopamine rush of scoring a goal on FIFA, or winning a multiplayer match on Call of Duty that building LEGO seemed too time-consuming and too monotonous. As the build progressed, I found myself enjoying it more and more. By the end... there it was. My first completed LEGO set in over 5 years. The sense of accomplishment along with the mindful aspect of building was something I had not experienced in a long time. From there, I was hooked, and I fell in love with LEGO all over again. 

Finding out about retired LEGO sets

Over the next few weeks, me and my parents built loads of LEGO! I was gradually becoming more and more mentally unwell, but the time I spent with my family building LEGO is one of the few fond memories I have from a pretty dark time in my life. We blasted through sets - The LEGO Creator Expert London Bus, The LEGO Technic Bugatti Chiron, The LEGO Hogwarts Castle. 

Sadly, my new hobby wasn't quite enough. That same summer, I was admitted to hospital to try and get a grasp on my mental health, with the aim of getting me prepared to go to university that same year. During my stay, visiting was extremely limited due to the pressures of the pandemic. This left me with a lot of time on my hands... I had one LEGO set with me that I built as soon as I arrived - The LEGO Star Wars Yoda 75255. With no more LEGO sets to hand, I began to watch youtube and scroll eBay to find my next build. The Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City 75222 was extremely cool... so was the 10236 Ewok Village! But these were unavailable, and didn't seem to be coming back into stock any time soon. This is when I first discovered the concept of retired LEGO sets. 

My first retired LEGO set

After a lot of learning and personal growth, I was discharged from hospital. Upon arriving home, I was greeted by an amazing gift from my parents... the LEGO 10236 Ewok Village! I had mentioned it on the phone to them, and they had scoured eBay to get hold of one for me. I was delighted, and as usual had the set built within a matter of days. It is still one of the most cherished sets in my collection, especially with all the memories attached to it. 

Between then and starting university, I continued to grow my LEGO collection rapidly. From Star Wars, to Harry Potter, to Technic, to Creator/Creator Expert, I built anything and everything with my parents. After lots of building, September came, and it was time to go to university. 

LEGO (...and University)

In September 2020, I moved to Sheffield to begin my medical studies at the University of Sheffield. Despite the pandemic, in my first year I met lots of lovely people (including my partner, who I am still with today!) and began to settle into the student lifestyle.

I of course continued to grow my LEGO collection, but was running into a problem... space. Being in one room as a student in shared accommodation,  I was quickly realising that I would not be able to keep building and displaying LEGO endlessly. Additionally, the student loan will only take you so far financially! I came up with an obvious solution to solve both of these problems... what if I bought LEGO, built it, and then sold it. Simple right?

My first LEGO sale

The first LEGO set I officially sold was the LEGO Ideas Grand Piano 21323. This was a set I had bought with the intention of building, but was under the impression it may have been bought for me as a Christmas gift. I decided to list the one I had up on eBay... it sold within hours. I boxed it up, and took it to the post office. Job done!

It was only after reviewing the transaction I realised something strange. I had sold the LEGO set for MORE than I had initially paid for it. All things told, I had made around £5. In all honesty, there was not a single business-related thought in my head at this time. Just the thought of "great, that's an extra £5 to spend on the next set". However, retrospectively I do classify this moment as the unofficial start of Toneil Bricks. 

Side-hussle

With the pandemic still ongoing, I was still buying and building lots of LEGO. With my new method of buying, building and then selling, I was able to build loads of really cool sets whilst saving space, and also not breaking the bank! I began buying collections of mixed-up, used LEGO sets, sorting them into individual sets, building all the sets, and then selling them separately through eBay and Facebook. Whilst fun, this was really time consuming and as my university studies became more intense, I had to try and find another way to fund my LEGO hobby. This is when I discovered LEGO investing.

LEGO Investing

At the end of 2021 and 2022, I began to learn more about LEGO investing. I watched channels such as Jake's Bricks, and Brick Bucks on youtube. During this time period, I had also picked up a part time job at my local Spar shop, so had a little bit of disposable income to fund my investments. My focus shifted from buying, building and flipping to growing my LEGO investment portfolio.

An issue that quickly re-emerged was storage space. Being in a shared university house, the only storage I had was my bedroom, which was a small box room. LEGO was stored under my bed, in my cupboards, and eventually I had to look for more space. 

I was fortunate to be able to store my LEGO sets between my Grandma's garage over in Doncaster, my parents loft back in Manchester, and my university bedroom. Here is a photo of the LEGO stored in my grandma's garage!

My portfolio continued to grow, and at the start of 2023 I realised that it was time to think about selling some of my sets. 

First Brick Event

When thinking about how to sell my investments, I initially had three options. Facebook marketplace, eBay or LEGO events. I weighed up all the options.

Facebook looked okay and had no fees, but looked time intensive and I was aware there would be lots of time-wasters/no-shows. eBay was definitely an option, but would require lots of trips to the post office, and with my stock being stored in so many different places I worried about how the logistics of that would work.

My last option was LEGO events. I had watched lots of content from Iain's bricks (still a huge fan myself... please go and check out his youtube channel!) and thought these events looked like great fun, with the added benefit of being able to sell some of my LEGO investments in one day, rather than dealing with the ongoing nature of eBay or Facebook. 

After convincing my partner and parents to lend a hand, I booked onto my first LEGO event - Doncaster Brick Festival on the 2nd of April 2023. The first setup was two six-foot front tables and one six-foot backing table, and all the LEGO was moved in mine and my dad's cars on the day. Here is the very first ever Toneil Bricks stall:

I could not believe how busy the event was! Despite my relatively small set-up, and limited range of stock, we managed to sell around £6,000 of LEGO that day. It was at this point I realised that leaning into LEGO events rather than online sales was definitely the right call. This was the direction that Toneil Bricks was going to head in.

For the rest of 2023, I attended a further 3 Brick Festival LEGO events. Two in Leeds, and one in Croydon. Our stall went from a 2+1 table setup, to a 2+2 table setup to eventually a 4+4 table setup for the final event of 2023 in Croydon. It was at this point that one of my friends from University (Elliott) started to get involved. He attended shows and helped me with the preparation - he provided a huge boost to get things off the ground. 

Whilst these events were not as successful financially as the first one in Doncaster, it became clear that heading into 2024 that trading at LEGO events was definitely at the top of my priority list. I aimed to attend as many events as possible next year within a 2.5 hour radius. 

In December of 2023, I finally made the jump to rent a 100sqft storage unit at my local Safestore, to allow me and Elliott the space we needed to do more events in 2024. It had no lights, and was extremely dark! Here are some early photos of the first Toneil Bricks storage unit:

First National Brick Event

By the start of 2024, there was a new brick event coming to the UK, and one you are hopefully all familiar with... National Brick Events. During the 2023/2024 academic year, I was studying an intercalated degree at UCL down in London, whilst Elliott manned the fort back in Sheffield. 

We decided to give this new event a go. The opening event was all the way in Ipswich (which was quite the commute from Sheffield at the time!). We agreed with the organisers to take a 4x4 stand at the end of February, and that was our first event of the year. As ever, my lovely partner agreed to support. Here are some photos from that event:

This is again one of my fondest memories of Toneil Bricks. It was a great day, with a huge number of sales. We took over £15,000, and went home with a van fully of empty cardboard boxes and crates. It felt surreal at the time!

2024 - continued growth

For the rest of 2024, we attended lots more brick events from both Brick Festival and National Brick Events. Renting vans was a challenge, as me and the Elliott were only 21/22 years old. Eventually, we discovered that Hertz would rent vans to anyone over 21 - this opened up opportunities for more events and allowed my dad to get a well-deserved breather from being the designated van driver! Here is a photo of me driving a van (very cautiously!) for the first time:

Throughout the rest of 2024, I completed my intercalated degree at UCL, and returned to Sheffield to continue my medical studies. Toneil Bricks moved into a bigger 200sqft storage unit in June, before eventually moving to two external 160sqft (320sqft total) by the end of 2024. 

In mid-2024, Owen joined the Toneil Bricks as the first full-time member of staff. This was a learning curve for both me and him, and I thank him profusely for putting up with me whilst I got to grips with this! A massive thank you also to Andy, Aidan, Alex, Charlotta and Sophie who worked lots of weekend events to get things moving.

The final important step in 2024 we took was to purchase our first van. The rental costs were stacking up, combined with the regular hassle of picking up and returning a rental van that may or may not be serviceable every week. Me and my dad commuted to South Wales, to buy the first Toneil Bricks van - here is a photo of us picking up the van. A massive shout-out to Six Way Car Sales, they made the experience really pleasant:

We closed out 2024 with me, Elliott and Owen all working at Toneil Bricks:

The first Toneil Bricks warehouse!

By the start of 2025, things were starting to get more serious. We had expanded to three external Safestore units (480sqft total) and were doing LEGO events most weekends. 

I would LOVE to say the decision to move to a warehouse was a proactive - however, in reality, the choice was made for us. We were notified at the start of March that our current storage units were having all power outlets removed. Electricity was essential for the work we were doing, so this left us with one option - to take the leap and move to a proper commercial premises.

After lots of deliberation, we opted for Unit 10 Newhall Road Industrial Estate. This was larger (and more expensive!) than I had initially planned, but allowed room for growth and was in a great location. This is the location many of you will have first met us at, so has a lot of sentimental value. 

Here is a photo of us picking up the keys to the first Toneil Bricks warehouse:

Toneil Bricks open days 

Whilst continuing to sell LEGO at conventions, we became aware of the opportunity in our new warehouse to sell retired LEGO directly to the public. Whilst we love LEGO events, there are huge amounts of additional cost that go into trading at one. Travel, food, hotels etc. can quickly add up! 

We decided to host our first open day on Saturday the 26th of April 2025. It was a massive success, and we were made up with how many people made the effort to come down to our warehouse and check it out. 

From then on, we continued to host regular open days every few months, which eventually evolved into our permanent shop, which now opens from 4pm till 8pm every Tuesday and 10am till 3pm every Saturday. 

The rest of 2025

Throughout the rest of 2025, many other developments took place:

• We took on multiple more members of staff.
• We bought a second van. 
• We agreed a sponsorship deal with National Brick Events, and began attending all of their events.
• We built this very website and began to trade properly online through our own domain. 

By the close of 2025, we had grown significantly, and couldn't wait to see what 2026 would hold. 

2026 - The LEGO heist

Everything was going well at the start of 2026. We were doing more LEGO events than ever, selling lots of LEGO sets online and also had built relationships with our local customer base in Sheffield. On the 16th of March 2026, disaster struck. 

Overnight, both our vans had been broken into, and all the stock was stolen out of them. The estimated value of the theft was around £20,000. We were fortunate enough to get about a third of it back, but it left the whole team shocked. 

We had already talked about running out of space in the current warehouse, and this was the reason stock was being left in the vans. I decided we needed to move to a bigger space... and quickly. 

Here is a photo of one of our vans after it was broken into:

Moving into our current warehouse (Unit 46 Century Street, S9 5DX)

We got the keys to our new warehouse on the 13th of April 2026, about 4 weeks after the theft. This was a much larger space (about 2000sqft, so over double our Newhall Road premises) and was only a five minute drive from the old location. Here is a photo of the warehouse the day we picked up the keys:

After a long week, and lots of overnight stays at the new unit, we finally had the premises ready. We had decided a long time ago it would be great to have a permanent, physical shop and that dream had finally become a reality:

Toneil Bricks currently

This takes us all the way up until now. Currently, we still operate from Unit 46 Century Street, Sheffield, S9 5DX. We attend over 100 LEGO conventions around the UK every year, sell LEGO online through this very website (www.toneilbricks.co.uk) and also have a physical shop that is open from 4pm-8pm every Tuesday and 10am-3pm every Saturday. 

Our team consists of 8 people, and we are always looking to grow and expand the range of sets (and now minifigures!) we offer. 

We have been fortunate enough to support multiple charities throughout this journey, including Action for Autism Barnsley (AfAB), A Nice Time on Saturdays (ANTS) hosted by the University of Sheffield Students Union, and multiple local children's football teams.

Who knows what the future holds. Hopefully this has given you an insight into everything behind Toneil Bricks, and the work and dedication of our team to get it to this point. 

As for me, I am STILL at university seven years later (in my final year thankfully!) and hope to complete my degree in June 2027. 

We would like to thank each and every one of you for your continued support. When I first started Toneil Bricks from my university bedroom, I had no idea what I was doing or what I was trying to build. It hasn't been easy, and has definitely come with its fair share of hiccups and mistakes! That being said, I am incredibly proud of the community we have built and the level of service we provide. I am especially thankful to all the staff, my parents and my partner, who have supported Toneil Bricks and me for the last 5 years. Onwards and upwards!

Tom (Toneil Bricks owner)