Phoenix puzzle shop sees business boom during pandemic

PHOENIX - Puzzles had a resurgence during the pandemic, with many people looking for activities to keep the whole family occupied and engaged.

One Phoenix puzzle maker says he saw business go through the roof.

Jeff Campbell started creating wood puzzles about a year ago after being in the publishing business for decades.

"I thought puzzles would be a lot of fun," Campbell said. "They're unique, there really isn't anything like it in Arizona that anybody's manufacturing these types of puzzles, so I thought it would be a good market to get into,"

His laser cutter helps create challenging, unique puzzles for his company, Whimsy Wood Puzzles.

"Once it's glued to the board, we take it back to the laser and the laser will cut it up depending on which program we put it in there -- depending on what program, we tell it how to cut the puzzle up," Campbell explained.

Whimsy Wood Puzzles seemed to jump in popularity overnight, Campbell said.

"People were sitting at home, puzzles were getting hard to come by," he explained. "It was like overnight, the business just exploded."

Campbell says he takes pride in creating his puzzles.

"We call them heirloom quality wood puzzles," he said. "They're on quarter-inch board, they're very high quality, they'll last a long time."

Now that the holidays are gearing up, Campbell says he's opening up his shop every weekend from now until Christmas. Puzzles with custom images can be made as well.

More on Whimsy Wood Puzzles: https://whimsywoodpuzzles.com/

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