click to enlarge Puzzle Warehouse

The Puzzle Warehouse has more than 10,000 puzzles and plenty of board games to keep you entertained.

click to enlarge COURTESY PUZZLE WAREHOUSE

The distraction market is booming right now.

The time of COVID-19 coincided with the new releases of board games. Shiny, brand new games await you at the Puzzle Warehouse.

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Isolation sucks. However, it is a necessary evil with COVID-19 sweeping across the world. One St. Louis company is making sure the city is occupied during their time with family and roommates. Puzzle Warehouse () is breaking records selling puzzles, games and toys."It seems like everyday business is accelerating," marketing manager Greg Brown said. "We broke yesterday's record."It all started on Thursday of last week."On Friday, they were impressive. On Saturday, they were really good. And now, they're ridiculous," Brown said of sales. "Ridiculous in a good way, though."Online, the puzzle shop has been doing six or seven times the amount of business. In their brick and mortar store, they have been doing five or six times the amount of business. Typically, their busiest time is during holiday months, but March has already exceeded the normal holiday numbers, Brown tells theDespite the gravity of the situation of a global pandemic, Brown says the mood of customers has remained overwhelmingly positive."People are kind of joking, but I suppose that's the nature of the product we're selling," Brown said. "We're not selling necessities, we're selling something to keep you entertained."While a majority of the customers have remained upbeat, Brown said that there has been a couple of exceptions. Some of the online customers have called to have their board games brought to their car rather than going in as a precaution.A majority of the business is in the 10,000 plus puzzles they carry. The warehouse does also have board games and other toys to get its customers through the lock down.If you find yourself with a suddenly urge for a puzzle or two, don't worry about stock running out anytime soon."We're ahead of the curve," Brown said. "We kind of foresaw this. We didn't expect it to be this dramatic or this fast, but we tend to order this time of year rather large."Customers have gotten emails about their orders experiencing a slight delay if they ordered online. The warehouse hired ten new people to get orders out "as fast as humanly possible."Puzzle Warehouse is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the weekends from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.