09/10/2026
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐โ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐ป๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ?
Ever wondered where the name TIQI came from?
The story actually goes back much further than the shop itself.
Steve started buying and selling secondhand goods in the early 1980s, initially at weekend flea markets in Kent and later at car boot sales and fairs further afield.
Over the years, he noticed that some of the things people found most interesting werenโt necessarily the obvious or valuable items. They were often the unusual things. The oddities. The things that made someone stop rummaging, pick something up and take a closer look.
Steve began visiting auction rooms looking for more of those weird and wonderful finds, and eventually accumulated far more stock than was practical to carry from market to market.
So, in 2009, he opened a small corner shop in Lowestoft.
There was just one thing missing. A name.
Then Steve remembered a phrase heโd heard countless times from people browsing his stalls over the years:
โ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ .โ
And there it was.
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ ๐ค๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด.
๐ง๐๐ค๐.
The little corner shop didnโt stay little forever. As the business grew, more space was needed and, in 2023, TIQI moved into its much larger home at ๐ด-๐ต ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐.
The shop may be bigger, but the idea behind it hasnโt changed: a constantly changing mixture of the useful, unusual, unexpected and occasionally downright peculiar.
Come in and see what you find quite interesting.
๐ TIQI
8-9 Bevan Street East
Lowestoft
NR32 2AA
