Puzzlupagus

It’s estimated that nearly 20 million Americans currently have an obsession of varying degree with jigsaw puzzles. Ours started, inexplicably, in 2019, as we watched Rob Gronkowski, the soon-to-be NFL Hall of Famer tight end being interviewed as he assembled a very large jigsaw puzzle. His therapist had prescribed “puzzling” to relieve stress and reduce the impact of concussions he had suffered as an NFL player.

After watching the interview, I asked my wife if she would like to try assembling a jigsaw puzzle —something we’ve never done. She agreed and we did. That’s all it took, one 500 piece puzzle of The Chapel at the University of North Carolina. We’ve had a puzzle-in-progress on our dining room table ever since.

If you “google” “jigsaw puzzle addiction” you’ll get a much more thorough appreciation for what I’m saying here. Our obsession/addiction has now grown to the point of starting our own business.

Welcome to Puzzlupagus.com, where ordinary puzzles take on a new identity, a new life, with the addition of a colorful background and visual expansion. The motivation behind our business is not about profit. Our prices will barely cover materials alone. It’s more about finding a good home for the puzzles to which we’ve become attached during the assembly process. Charging a modest price ensures the puzzles we love will be appreciated as much by our neighbors as it was by us.

The search for a unique and relevant company name has been long and agonizing. Most of you can figure out the origin of the homophone, Puzzlupagus. We think it says fun, awe, joy, and inspiration and reflects how we feel from the time we start sorting another 1000 piece puzzle to the time we insert the last piece.

While we’re building a website, we’ll be using Nextdoor.com (zip code 27312) as a platform to reach our neighbors in Pittsboro, North Carolina, offering custom mounting of their puzzle onto a decorative background. We just joined Nextdoor.com and it will take time to define our products and services. Our plan is to be offering our unique, and reasonably priced products, in time for the Holiday season.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we’ll be attempting to sell our decorated puzzles such as the one featured in this article in downtown Pittsboro. To start with, all of our portraits are priced at $45.00. We did our market research by walking through a number of retail stores and comparing our products to anything priced for less than $50.00. We found nothing comparable at this price. We hope you’ll agree.

We’re excited about our new venture, and hope you’ll share this article with friends and family. Email us at jmkrueger@nc.rr.com with questions or comments.