Self storage spreads to the Philippines

Residents of Taguig City in the Philippines recently witnessed the opening of the country’s first American-style self storage facility, according to an online article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The idea for Safehouse Storage Facility occurred to a banker named Celina Martinez-Coronel and her two sons, Mark and Carlo, when they needed a storage solution for business documents belonging to their family-owned bank. Inspired by the type of facilities they’d seen in America, they were in a strong position to start the business as they already owned a property company, Panorama Development, which leased a number of warehouses.

They simply divided a 500 sq metre warehouse into 30 separate units with metal partitions – and the rest, as they say, is history.

How much does self storage cost in the Philippines?

While the Philippines remains a poor country compared to its near neighbours China and South Korea, a prosperous middle-class has developed in recent years, particularly around the capital, Manila, of which Taguig City is a suburb.

This enabled them to charge prices that seem relatively high, although they are lower than traditional warehousing. Safehouse Storage Facility offers three sizes of unit: 12 sq m, 15 sq m and 21 sq m. The first two cost 6,500 Philippine pesos per month (£98), while the latter is slightly more expensive, at 7,500 (£113). As with most UK self storage companies, the customer is able to look around the facility, before viewing a contract and having a unit reserved for them.

Most people needing self storage in the Philippines belong to this prosperous urban middle-class, with two-thirds of the company’s clients being small-businesspeople who can’t afford space in large warehouses.

Like some UK self storage firms, Safehouse Storage Facility also offers to pack the client’s possessions and transport them to the self storage facility for them, for an additional fee. The company also plans to innovate, by offering a filing system that will handle their business customers’ files like a professional archiving service would in the near future.

Philippines self storage staffing

Safehouse Storage Facility must have a good feel for how these small family enterprises operate, as the company is one itself. Run in a hands-on manner by the Coronel brothers, with Mark handling the administrative side, they plan to add a sales team as occupancy increases and they can add additional units.

Social changes in the Philippines seem to be fuelling an increased demand for self storage. The brothers mention in the article that they feel the rise in condominium living has given people more of a need for additional storage space, while the same processes that we associate with the growth of self storage in the West – heightened consumerism, couples marrying latter, people inheriting furniture from their parents – all seem to have taken root in the Philippines as well.

The premium on space can only be set to increase, as the Philippines has a young, fast growing population which is steadily becoming richer (particularly through remittances from relatives working abroad), concentrated in dense urban areas.

If self storage manages to take off in the Philippines, it could well spread to other parts of the developing world as well.

4 Responses to “Self storage spreads to the Philippines”

1. HONORIO G. ORLINA says:

   August 18, 2011 at 7:32 pm

   I have a 20 foot container arriving from US. How much space do I need? Is your facility secured? Pls advise.

2. Antony says:

   August 25, 2011 at 12:30 pm

   You need to address Safehouse Storage Facility direct, in Taguig: http://safehousefacility.com/contact-us.php
   Best wishes!

3. Carlo Coronel says:

   September 15, 2011 at 10:36 am

   Hi David,

   I would like to thank you for blogging about our company. This is the first of its kind here in the Philippines and this blog will surely help in our exposure. This kind of service is greatly needed in the Philippines since there is an exponential growth in Condo-living in the country. Several High-rise condomoniumns are being put up in the Fort Global City (the next business district in Metro Manila) and suburbs around Taguig City. There is even a Condo building being built a few minutes away from the facility which is designed by no other than Ms. Paris Hilton. We anticipate that with this growth in the Philippines, the demand for self-storage facilities would also increase exponentially.

   Thanks again and Godspeed!

   Carlo Coronel
   Safehouse Storage Facility
   Your Personalized Storage Solution

4. Macky says:

   November 23, 2011 at 1:29 am

   Kindly visit the website: http://www.safehousefacility.com for more details on the services offered. Thank you