Bricks & Minifigs sells LEGO products straight from LEGO distribution and “retired” LEGO sets bought from customers or online.

“The way that LEGO works is they’ll typically put something out and it’ll have a shelf life for about a year or two and then they’ll retire it,” Tony Lopez said. “LEGO is one of the few products that actually appreciates in value once it’s gone off the shelf.”

The store, located on Scottsville Road, opened on Sept. 28, 2024.

“Opening the store is one of the things that I knew we needed, because we don’t have anything like this, and I was already a consumer of it,” Tony Lopez said. 

Tony and Jenny Lopez are both extensively familiar with the Bowling Green community. 

Jenny Lopez, lifelong Bowling Green local, graduated from Greenwood High School and attended WKU for two years in the early 2000s. Tony Lopez has been a local since his study at WKU, graduating with a BFA in graphic design in 2001. 

Though Tony and Jenny Lopez shared mutual friends during their time at WKU, their first meeting occurred in the parking lot of a local apartment complex.

“She actually hit my car and then I kept seeing her everywhere around town after that, and then we just kind of started talking,” Tony Lopez said. “And then I actually got her a job at Best Buy.”

Tony and Jenny Lopez eventually migrated from Best Buy to Dell Computers in Nashville and married during their time with the company.

Jenny Lopez stayed with Dell for 16 years before being laid off amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Tony Lopez considers the new store a “passion project” as his day job at Broadcom, a major tech company, consumes most of his time.

“I’ve hired a manager to kind of run it and Jenny runs things as well,” Tony Lopez said. “And I’m here when I can be.”

Tony Lopez frequented the Bricks & Minifigs location in Louisville and delved into the opportunity of franchising from his experiences. 

“We’re related in the name but we’re all independently owned and operated,” Tony Lopez said. 

“It’s very much like a grassroots franchise,” Jenny Lopez said. “We all help each other with problems and send each other different stuff.”

The company has roughly 200 locations nationwide, according to Tony Lopez. 

Tony and Jenny Lopez expressed their gratitude for the community support over the last few weeks. 

The grand opening in September saw over 700 customers that Saturday, according to Tony Lopez.

“The community really came together and stuck it out and supported us,” Tony Lopez said. “ We couldn’t have asked for any more.”

Jenny Lopez said customers filed outside the establishment hours before the official opening at 10 a.m. that day, bearing the rain. Some customers arrived just moments after Jenny Lopez herself got to the store, around 7 a.m.

“One lady pulled up and they had folding chairs and they were the first ones out there with their three boys, waiting in line just as happy as they could be,” Jenny Lopez said.

The shop has already fostered a diverse customer pool of “LEGO adults,” college students and youth, according to Tony Lopez. Some of these customers have become regulars over the mere two weeks the location has been open.

Aside from selling official LEGO products, the store works with small businesses, like Brick Bling by Jill, Big Kid Brix, Go Figure Displays, and Made Happy. These businesses produce LEGO-adjacent and LEGO-compatible products. 

Bricks & Minifigs Bowling Green at 2800 Scottsville Rd. Suite 3 is open from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The store can be reached at (270) 495-1118.

“It’s been awesome, and it’s weird to be in a business where people thank you for opening it,” Tony Lopez said.

News Reporter Kane Smith can be reached at kane.smith490@topper.wku.edu.

WKU has 31 all-gender restrooms across 22 academic and administrative buildings according to the WKU All Gender Bathroom Directory. In 2015, all-gender restrooms were only available in four academic buildings on campus, according to an August 2015 Herald article.

Additionally, at least eight residence halls currently include facilities explicitly labeled “all-gender restroom” or “all-gender bathroom” out of 15 available residence halls on campus, according to Katie Corbin, assistant director of marketing and communications for WKU Housing and Residence Life. These are not all open to the public. 

Private restrooms, family restrooms and guest restrooms are not considered all-gender restrooms.

“‘All gender’ makes it clear that trans and nonbinary people, as well as cis women and men, are able to use the facility,” said Genny Beemyn, researcher of trans-supportive campus policies. 

Gender-inclusive restrooms provide a solution for safety and comfortability concerns amongst the LGBTQ+ community, especially transgender and nonbinary people, Beemyn said.

“Many trans and nonbinary people experience violence in gendered restrooms and are often uncomfortable in such facilities because they feel unsafe,” Beemyn said. “As a result, many trans and nonbinary people go out of their way to find a gender-inclusive restroom or ‘hold it,’ despite the discomfort, to avoid being in a gendered restroom.”

For the fall 2024 Common App, 2.47% of college applicants identified as transgender or nonbinary, according to Beemyn’s research project.

Beemyn also tracks trans-supportive policies on college campuses across the country.

President of WKU Queer Student Union Daryl Action stressed the importance of all-gender restrooms on a college campus since college is a period of self-discovery.

Action, a junior and communications major, considers all-gender restrooms a “safe space” for students.

Students can find additional resources on campus through The Pride Center at pridecenter@wku.edu and in Downing Student Union room 2084.

News Reporter Kane Smith can be reached at kane.smith490@topper.wku.edu.

Zink, a local resident and owner of the car, agreed to restyle the vehicle on Aug. 23 with the WKUPD decals and stripes as a contribution to the police department.

Zink and WKUPD Chief Mitchell Walker devised the collaboration, having known each other since September 2020. 

“I reached out to Sarah because I knew she had a connection with Corvette and to see if there was something we could do with them to promote our police department and WKU,” Walker said.

Walker said WKUPD plans to use the vehicle for WKU football escorts and possibly events for recruiting police officers and students to the university.

After modifying the vehicle with the decals, Zink said she took the restyled Corvette to the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park on Aug. 24 and 25 for a spin on the track. This occurred during the park’s High Performance Driving Event.

The car’s most recent appearance in the Bowling Green area took place on Sept. 7 during the WKU home football game against rival Eastern Kentucky University, according to Walker. 

While the Corvette is not on the track or in official law enforcement usage, the decals must be taped over. According to Walker, it is both illegal and a safety issue for the decals to be visible while not in use by police. 

Zink’s main concern was not her own safety.

“I don’t want anyone to ask for my help and I can’t help them,” Zink said.

Zink said her position as a law enforcement chaplain at the Warren County Sheriff’s Department influenced her relationship with the police.

Zink is the president of Phoenix Rising, which aims to assist youth impacted by sex trafficking, according to the website. She is also a former president of Adopt a Golden Nashville and fosters through the organization.

“I don’t have kids, so this is my way of giving back,” Zink said. 

If those in the WKU community want to see the car, they can expect it at upcoming home football games and potentially at WKUPD recruitment events, according to Walker.

Until then, it will be in Zink’s garage, if not out on the track.

News Reporter Kane Smith can be reached at kane.smith490@topper.wku.edu.

HRL has received six maintenance requests in Gilbert Hall due to pests as of Aug. 29, according to Katie Corbin, assistant director of marketing and communications for HRL. Corbin said requests for pests in Gilbert are higher than in other dorms this year.

“Our contracted pest control service has been spraying and is continuing to monitor the areas,” Corbin said. “Pests seek out moisture and cooler places during hot and dry weather, so it is common to see an increase in pest issues during high temperatures, as well”

Reports of roaches on the fourth floor of Gilbert Hall surfaced as early as WKU’s Top Drop and Go move-in weekend, from Aug. 2-4.

According to Paris Barkes, sophomore criminology major, there were two dead roaches in her room when she arrived on Aug. 3.

Barkes said she assumed maintenance sprayed for pests prior to her arrival, which would have exterminated them. However, she said there was a roach scaling the ceiling of her dorm room over two weeks later.

Barkes’s roommate submitted a maintenance request to HRL on Wednesday, Aug. 21 following the incident. According to Barkes, the request was fulfilled on Aug. 26, and she said she has not seen any more roaches in her room.

Shelby Burnett, sophomore elementary education major, has observed multiple roaches in her room, on the same floor of Barkes’s, since Aug. 27.

“One of them literally fell on her [Burnett’s roommate] head the other night and then the next morning she opened her closet and one was sitting on her dresser,” Burnett said.

Burnett said the earliest date staff could fulfill her Aug. 29 maintenance request is Sept. 5. The latest is Sept. 19.

Maintenance also sprays areas that frequently allure pests, Corbin said. 

“In addition to the specific rooms that turned in maintenance requests, the contracted pest control team sprays common areas, ESA/mechanical closets, areas leading outside, and any other area that would be an assumed attractive spot for pests,” Corbin said. “These spots have been closely monitored and sprayed/checked multiple times.” 

Barkes said roach sightings in the bathrooms persisted after the floor’s resident assistant informed the tenants that the hallways and bathrooms had already been sprayed. 

Pest problems were not limited to Barkes and Burnett’s floor.

Haley King, senior sociology major and non-profit minor, has seen three roaches in her room in Gilbert Hall since Aug. 20. 

King said she submitted a maintenance request the same day, and the pest team sprayed the premises and placed traps on Aug. 23. 

Despite the prevalence of roaches in Gilbert, maintenance requests for pests campus-wide are down 57% from last year, according to Corbin. 

“If students are experiencing pest issues and have not submitted a request, they should do so immediately on the WKU Housing Portal through my.wku.edu,” Corbin said. “Students can help prevent pest issues by cleaning their rooms often and taking their trash to the outdoor trash compactors frequently.”

News reporter Kane Smith can be contacted at kane.smith490@topper.wku.edu.