Self Storage in Europe: Crossing the Channel Slowly

How European self storage is moving beyond Britain

If you looked at a map showing the distribution of the world’s self storage industry then two ways of describing it would make sense. The obvious analysis is that it has been purely a rich country phenomenon, starting in the world’s wealthiest nation and then spreading across to Europe and Oceania, limited in range only by a high price tag.

Yet if this progression is looked at a little more closely, the pattern becomes different; self storage has actually progressed through the Anglosphere, having only gone on to put down deep roots in the economies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and, more recently, the UK. This is what makes the recent appearance of major self storage centres in and around the rest of Europe’s capital cities very interesting.

After all, the Euro-zone is the world’s richest economic area, and the fact it’s comprised almost exclusively of countries that don’t speak English makes it the vital test case for whether or not self storage can take off beyond the Anglo-Saxon world. A look at several important markets can help us gauge how this is getting on:

Self storage in France

As recently as 2005, marketing surveys revealed that as little as 5% of France’s population were aware of self storage. Rapid growth since then has meant the country is now home to 112 storage facilities; the second most in Europe (though still a long way behind Britain’s impressive 1189), this is enough for one per every 554,000 or so people.

The industry there is also concentrated in two ways, the first one of which is geographical; 54% of all these sites are in the Paris area, meaning there is little availability in smaller cities and self storage remains virtually unknown in rural areas. The second form is commercial, as 58% of these sites are controlled by the three largest companies, meaning there are few of the single-site ‘independent’ operators who have provided the backbone of the industry in America. Given that the ‘Big 3’ are Access, HomeBox and Shurgard, it’s also interesting to observe that, in a nation fond of home-grown commercial champions, two of this industry’s biggest players (Access and Shurgard) are foreign-owned.

Self Storage in Spain

Before 2002 there were no self storage facilities in Spain. Then the first branch of Bluespace, now the national leader, opened in Barcelona and began a period of rapid expansion for the industry. Since then it has grown to become the fourth largest in Europe with 57 facilities, although again these are heavily concentrated, with 60% being in either its home city or Madrid.

However, the industry here has been in decline of late as it depended too heavily on the Spanish housing bubble that burst during the credit crunch. This dependence was two-fold; firstly, the industry benefited as rising land values meant developers starting building smaller houses, which then lacked enough storage space and so created a need for buyers to hire more, and secondly because the fact people kept on moving house meant they regularly needed space for their possessions whilst between residences. The slowdown in housing credit and sales caused by the recession has disrupted both these streams of revenue, causing the number of facilities to actually decrease, from a peak of 70 in 2008.

Self Storage in Germany

Despite having the Eurozone’s largest population, Germany has seen very little development of its self storage sector; in 2007 there were still only 33 facilities in the entire country, or one for every 2.4 million people. Lacking an equivalent to France’s Homebox and Spain’s Bluespace, Germany is also the only major European country not to have a large home-grown self storage firm.

There are several factors that, it has been suggested, may act against the self storage industry’s development. The explanation is considered to be part regulatory, as Germany has four levels of government which each place their own restrictions on developments, making large buildings hard to put up. The lack of an existing industry also means there are few architects with experience at building successful storage centres in the country, and a lack of development in the necessary supporting industries like metal fit-out companies and box suppliers.

However, all countries face these obstacles at the beginning of their self storage progression; the key barrier for Germany is more likely to be national frugality, shown by the high household savings rate and low level of domestic consumption, both of which make the population less acquisitive of domestic goods and less in need of additional space for their households.

The language of storage

What these examples show is that English seems set to remain the key language for the global storage industry in the foreseeable future. No continental country could develop its market enough to catch up during the boom years, and now the recession has pushed them back even further.

It will be interesting to see if the industry can recover to expand in France and Spain, or if, as seems to be the case with Germany, there are insurmountable cultural differences that will keep self storage an English-speaking phenomenon forever.

2 Responses to “Self Storage in Europe: Crossing the Channel Slowly”

1. Philippe says:

   May 14, 2010 at 10:30 pm

   In France in 2010 there are 225 facilities. The industry stays concentrated. The “Big 4” are Shurgard, Homebox, Une pièce en plus (Safestore) and Annexx. They still represent 60% of the market.

2. Ian says:

   August 25, 2010 at 3:51 pm

   Germany is now embracing self storage and the total number of facilities has grown to around 66 (not counting bulk and container storage locations). This figure will grow in the next 3 years to over 100.