How Unlocked & Found was Founded
Though Tatiana and Katie didn't realize it at the time, Unlocked & Found was founded one day when Katie finally agreed to try to purchase a storage auction unit. Tatiana is a natural treasure-hunter. Give her a metal detector and you will find her pacing on a beach or walking circles in a sandy playground, or give her a stack of tokens at the arcade and you will find her emptying the claw machine. Knowing Tatiana is to know it was no surprise she was drawn to the mysteriousness of storage auction units. After watching years of episodes of the infamous TV show, Tatiana convinced Katie to give the storage auction a try.
Tatiana and Katie found and won their very first auction unit at a storage facility in the City of North Lauderdale. It was a 5' x 10' unit that was interesting to both of them before the sale, and what they found inside was even more surprising to them once they unlocked that very first door. After many more units, tons of sweat-equity, laughs, memories, wins, and losses, the Unlocked & Found story continues to date.
(Want to know what was found in our very first unit? Just ask! - Hint: some of its contents can be seen on this website, the Unlocked & Found eBay store page, and on our Facebook and Instagram pages.)
Who We Are
We are treasure hunters and everything resellers! Unlocked & Found is a 100% family-owned and operated small business. In 2024, Tatiana and Katie officially launched Unlocked & Found in the Fort Lauderdale area of South Florida.
Tatiana grew up in Lima, Peru (se llama Español!) and made South Florida home over 10 years ago. Katie, a South Florida native, has witnessed the growth of Broward County over the years. She believes this growth has undoubtedly contributed to the booming storage facility industry in the area. Unfortunately the aftermath of COVID-19 brought hard-times on many, but it also rocketed the resale market and online community-style marketplaces to never before seen levels. For those who needed to make a little extra money, for those who's needs became tougher to budget for, for those who's wants were still attainable but maybe not with the "new" price tag, and for those just trying to make smarter purchases, reselling as an industry itself has grown exponentially.
Tatiana and Katie started out buying storage auctions as most do, it was a hobby. But both busy with full-time jobs and three dogs, and their treasure-hunting hobby, Tatiana and Katie welcomed baby Cory to the family in 2023! Baby Cory has been along for the storage hunt since the official Day 1 of Unlocked & Found and you may even catch him co-starring in some videos from time to time.
The Why of Unlocked & Found
"For the love of the unknown," is what you'd expect to hear when any storage auction buyer is asked why they do what they do. We at Unlocked & Found will tell you the truth: no one in the storage auction business is in it strictly to repeatedly open door after door of dirty, smelly, and sometimes pest infested units to then sift through layers of equally dirty, strange, and old stuff that used to belong to someone they've never even met. Not to mention the heartache that sometimes comes with finding old family photo albums, military honors, and keepsakes of someone's loved one who had passed on.
Tatiana and Katie will tell you the truth about their "why" and it 100% revolves around baby Cory. Unlocked & Found brings Tatiana and Katie the flexibility to spend time with baby Cory, whether its to take time off work or to bring him along for the day's adventure, be it at a facility, Post Office, market, laundromat, jeweler, or any other of the day's stops. Tatiana and Katie also realize baby Cory is growing up in this very digital world (of which, yes, we know Unlocked & Found is a contributor), but their hope is to provide baby Cory with physical exploration of the world around him and the world that came before him. There's no telling what each storage unit may uncover when its unlocked, and Tatiana and Katie hope baby Cory gets to investigate, play with, learn about, and appreciate all the special finds whether its new or old, a machine, a book, a piece of jewelry, a toy, music, or art. Unlocked & Found is solely family-run, and baby Cory is the CEO.
Cory's very own storage find!