On Friday his landlord’s office told him he was still the tenant. On Monday the landlord said it was “between her legal team and BAM corporate now.” On Wednesday afternoon a locksmith changed the locks.
Collecting Weekly posted two photographs at 7:01 p.m. Tucson time: a locksmith bent over the lock of suite 162 at 8110 S Houghton Rd, the store’s Reckless Bricks sign still in the window behind him, and a key box padlocked to the door handle afterward, taken by the owner. TJ Roberts confirmed the change himself minutes before the post went up. No one had told him it was coming. Under Arizona law the one party that can retake a commercial space without a court is the landlord, and BAM’s own lease addendum says the company owes nothing on a lease until it assumes it in writing. Neither BAM nor the landlord has said who sent the locksmith.
PRIMARY SOURCEthe two photographs Collecting Weekly posted to r/RecklessBen on September 23, reproduced below; the door in them is the store’s, by the suite number, the Reckless Bricks sign and the OPEN sign, all of which the September 17 video also showsAS REPORTEDthat the locks were changed Wednesday afternoon, that the owner confirmed it himself at about 6:50 p.m., and that he had heard from no one, from Collecting Weekly’s post and its reply under itAS REPORTEDwhat the landlord told the owner on Monday, in a call of about 45 seconds, as Total AFOL relayed it in a public chat: the situation is “between her legal team and BAM corporate now”PRIMARY SOURCEA.R.S. § 33-361, the Arizona statute on a landlord’s right of re-entry, and BAM’s own Lease Addendum, Schedule 4 to its 2026 franchise agreement, hosted hereUNRESOLVEDwho ordered the locksmith; whether BAM has assumed the lease in writing; whether the landlord acted for herself or for BAM. BAM has said nothing in public about this store since it opened
Wednesday
The first photograph was taken from the parking lot. A man in a white shirt and cap is bent over the lock of the glass entrance door, a tool bag open at his feet and a clipboard hung on the pull handle. The number 162 is on the glass above him. Inside the window are the blue Reckless Bricks sign, the OPEN sign and a LEGO sign, where the September 17 video also found them. The store has been closed since that day.
The second photograph is the owner’s, taken after dark. A key box hangs from the pull handle, padlocked through it. It is the kind of box a property manager or a locksmith leaves so that whoever is meant to get in next can do so without the tenant. At 7:01 p.m. Tucson time Collecting Weekly posted both.
“Spoke with TJ this evening. Locks were changed at Reckless Bricks a few hours ago, he’s personally confirmed the change himself about ten mins ago (closeup photo from TJ)”
Asked under the post what it meant, the channel wrote that it appeared BAM “has assumed control of this location,” that the owner had heard from no one, and that it was speculating.
Six days at one door
Every account of this lease that has reached the public is below, in order.
“You are still the tenant,” his landlord’s office told him on Friday. On Wednesday a locksmith changed the locks.
Who can change a lock
In Arizona a landlord does not need a judge to take a commercial space back.
“When a tenant neglects or refuses to pay rent when due and in arrears for five days, or when a tenant violates any provision of the lease, the landlord or person to whom the rent is due, or the agent of the landlord or person to whom the rent is due, may reenter and take possession or, without formal demand or reentry, commence an action for recovery of possession of the premises.”
That power belongs to the landlord, or to someone acting for the landlord. It does not belong to a franchisor. Whatever BAM’s contract with the owner says about the store, the door is the landlord’s, and a locksmith who re-keys it is working for the landlord, for a tenant, or for someone the landlord has let in. On Wednesday one of those three sent him. None of them has said so.
BAM’s own paperwork says how the company gets to be the tenant. Its franchise agreement requires every store’s lease to carry a Lease Addendum, and the form of it is in the disclosure document BAM files with state regulators. The landlord signs it too.
“Landlord agrees that Franchisor, or Franchisor’s assignee or designee has the right (but not the obligation) to assume the Lease or sublease: (1) upon expiration or termination of the Franchise Agreement (without renewal) between Franchisee and Franchisor ...”
“Franchisee and Landlord acknowledge and agree that Franchisor shall have no liability or obligation whatsoever under the Lease unless and until Franchisor assumes the Lease in writing pursuant to this Addendum. Franchisor will assume all of Franchisee’s obligations under the Lease or Sublease from and after the date of assignment.”
Two things follow. A right to assume is not an assumption: the addendum makes BAM the tenant “in writing,” and from that date the rent is BAM’s. So if BAM assumed this lease, it is now paying for a store it has told its franchisees will stay “permanently closed.” If it did not, the locks were changed by a landlord acting on her own account, five days after her office told the tenant he was still the tenant. Whether the Tucson lease carries the addendum is not on any public record. Collecting Weekly reported on September 18 that about half a dozen owners it had spoken to have the same clause in theirs.
What BAM said, and when
The company has given three accounts of this store, none of them in public. Its coach described a finished purchase on the morning of the 18th. Its chief operations officer described a plan on the 19th, in the video every franchisee received: communication with the landlord, a shutdown, permanent closure. The landlord, on the owner’s account, had by then taken one phone call. By Monday she was referring him to her legal team and to BAM. By Wednesday the locks were changed.
Of everything BAM has said, its coach’s sentence, “We bought out the lease, closed them down,” is the one a locksmith at the door resembles most. On the 18th the landlord’s office said that had not happened. Nothing public says what changed between then and Wednesday, apart from the landlord’s own words on Monday. BAM has still said nothing about the store where anyone outside the company can read it.
The fair counterpoint. A landlord can change a lock for reasons of her own: a store that has been closed and emptied, a space she wants secured, a dispute with her tenant that has nothing to do with BAM. A key box on a handle is routine property management. What the landlord told the owner reaches this site through him and through a creator’s chat message; this site did not hear either call. BAM may have assumed the lease in writing since the 18th, in which case its coach was early rather than wrong, and the rent is now BAM’s. Nothing here establishes that anyone acted unlawfully. The right of reply is open to BAM, to the landlord and to TJ Roberts.
Sources. Collecting Weekly’s post to r/RecklessBen, “Reckless bricks update, locks have been changed in Tucson,” September 23, 2026, 7:01 p.m. Tucson time, its two photographs, reproduced above with the first cropped to the doorway, and the channel’s reply under it. Total AFOL’s message in the BJC Live Show chat, as posted to r/RecklessBen on September 21, 2026 at 12:41 p.m. Tucson time, “Update on Reckless Bricks Tucson.” Arizona Revised Statutes § 33-361. BAM Franchising, Inc., 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, Franchise Agreement Schedule 4, “Lease Addendum,” paragraphs 4, 6 and 8, hosted here. This site’s earlier reporting: the store on September 17, what BAM’s franchise business coach told an owner, what the landlord’s office told the tenant, and what Matt McNeff told franchisees. The disputes between the company and its franchisees remain unproven allegations. This site’s right of reply is open to everyone named here.