The archive · Small Business & Money · Operational decision · 2025–2026
The Tech Guy: a shy trader's second-hand tech stall in Tavistock grows into a shop
A shy trader opened a Friday stall selling repaired, nostalgic tech; a year later he had a shop, a national final and a calmer self.
The Tech Guy Tavistock
What it had to solve
In January 2025 Kieron Loomes, 25 and known locally as The Tech Guy, took a stall in Tavistock Pannier Market offering affordable technological help, repairs, computer builds and gadgets. He had ADHD, which he says made him good with tech but bad with people, and he later described the decision as spur of the moment: once the stall was his, talking to customers stopped being optional.
How it works
In January 2025 Kieron Loomes, then 25 and known around Tavistock as The Tech Guy, took a stall in the town's Pannier Market selling affordable technology — repairs, advice, computer builds, second-hand gadgets and Pokemon cards. He says the decision was spur of the moment. He and his sister Ellie were both so shy they hated talking to strangers face to face or even on the phone; once customers were in front of him, conversation stopped being a choice.
The stall traded every Friday and the framing was repair-first: upcycling, the right to repair, and technology that did not break the bank, with the stated aim of helping people rather than maximizing takings. His sister Ellie joined the business as manager. Six months after opening, the National Market Traders Federation's Young Market Traders regional finals in Bristol named him a 'highly commended retailer', earning a place in the national final that August.
By January 2026 the stall had become two premises: the Friday market stall plus a basement shop on West Street. Customers came from across the UK, suppliers from the Far East including Japan, and a TikTok following spread the story beyond the town. Loomes credits the stall with changing his life — not only as a career, but as a way of managing social anxiety: it boosted his confidence, he says, and it helped Ellie too.
Why it lands
- Choosing a fixed, public commitment — the Friday stall — removed the option to hide: the anxiety was real, but so were the customers.
- Repair and right-to-repair gave the business a story bigger than selling gadgets, turning second-hand tech into a mission rather than a margin play.
- The market provided training wheels: supportive council staff, veteran traders and cheap entry meant failure cost little and momentum built fast.
- A small human business scaled without capital — an award, a TikTok following and repeat customers carried it to a second site within a year.
What it did
By January 2026 the venture had grown from one Friday stall into two premises — the market stall plus a basement shop on West Street — with customers across the UK, suppliers in the Far East including Japan, and a TikTok following that carried the story beyond the town.
What you can take
Do not fix the anxiety first — fix the context: put the shy person in a role where every customer is a conversation, and the job becomes the exposure therapy nobody could schedule.
Since then
A year after his first market day, Loomes was running the stall and a West Street basement shop with his sister as manager, and the pair used their story to encourage other young traders to join the Tavistock Youth Market in March 2026. The business kept its core values — helping people, championing sustainable tech, and supporting the local market community — and its online following kept spreading, making The Tech Guy one of the market's visible success stories.
Sources
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