In his old life, Glenn Reckard was a Seattle chef working long hours every week at a Queen Anne restaurant to help support his wife and five children.

That all changed when Glenn’s wife, Janelle Reckard, was diagnosed with cancer. They decided he couldn’t keep working such long hours so far from their Bothell home, and also help Janelle fight the disease.

So he quit, with a $700 check on its way, and an unknown ace in the hole.

Glenn Reckard’s son gave him five mini figure Lego sets, and told him to sell them. At first, Glenn said he was skeptical, right up until he sold them for $125 a piece.

“Once we sold those… I was hooked,” he said, standing in the couple’s bulk and specialty Lego store, Just Playing Around Toys. “It’s really incredible how big it is.”

The bulk and specialty Lego retail market, that is.

BrickLink is one of, if not the largest online Lego marketplaces. As of Dec. 2 the site had nearly 670 million visitors, boasting more than 320 million items for sale.

Just Playing Around Toys, the couple’s garage-based store, serves the same role. The small space has been renovated to house floor to ceiling racks of Lego sets, figures and large tubs of various pieces. The garage doors were removed, replaced with house doors and a lit display case holds coveted parts, pieces and figures.

The Reckard’s got two big breaks as they were starting their business in 2014.

First, Glenn Reckard said he was talking with a woman who was selling a large order of 600 used sets, 100 used sets and 200 pounds of bulk Lego for $25,000, which was too much for the couple.

While he was in a Bartell Drug store in Maple Valley looking at Lego sets, a woman struck up a conversation with him about Legos.

It turned out to be, he said, the sister of the woman who was offering the bulk sale. She put in a good word for him, and her sister sold the entire order to the Reckards for $7,000.

Some time after this, Glenn Reckard said, he was at a Wal-Mart in Wenatchee looking at more Legos when he was approached by a man willing to trade information for a free lunch.

The man, according to Glenn Reckard, was a recently fired store manager who knew all the distribution and resale times for Lego products at Wal-Marts in Washington and surrounding states.

Knowing these schedules, Glenn Reckard is able to cycle between stores, buying up sets at a wholesale price, sometimes up to 60 percent off.

He said these prices are unheard of in the Lego community, as official Lego vendors are only given around a 20 percent discount when buying from the company.

This allows Just Playing Around Toys to undercut other vendors by up to 30 percent, even filling orders for other area Lego stores.

While the store sells Legos to many children, Glenn Reckard said their typical customer doesn’t fit that bill.

“There’s more adults buying for adults than there is adults buying for kids, but it’s just such a mix,” he said.

Business at Just Playing Around Toys was booming for the first six months after they opened in September 2014, serving more than 7,500 customers that year. But lately, they said business has been tapering off.

On their Black Friday sale this year, they said only around 50 people showed up.

Visibility and location may play into this decrease, and the Reckards are looking to open a second store, either in downtown Bothell or at James Village in Lynwood.

And while business is down for now, the couple still believes their store will make it.

“The reason we got in it is what sets us apart,” she said. “Nobody just up and quits their job like my husband did. Glenn really went out on a limb, and it really paid off.”

And for the couple, especially Janelle Reckard, Legos are more than just a cool way to earn a living.

Her cancer treatment left her with brain damage. As part of her recovery, she worked with Legos to regain mobility and brain function.

“That’s why we have such a passion about it,” she said.

Just Playing Around Toys is open Wednesday through Friday from 3 to 8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is located at 21926 7th Place West, Bothell.