The Independent features businesses based in self storage units

A recent article in The Independent has highlighted the growing use being made of self storage units by start-up businesses looking for a cheap alternative to renting more traditional premises.

The article’s author, Nick Harding, puts the trend down to the recession, arguing that “as businesses downscale and cut back, self storage facilities are becoming the base of choice for a new generation of lean, low-level pop-up entrepreneurs, attracted by flexibility, cheap rents and the convenience of a no-ties agreement. From mini-gyms to music academies and recycling centres, self storage units, with their adaptable functionality, are increasingly the blank canvasses on to which new businesses are painted.”

Self storage doing good business

The Self Storage Association reported that last year there was a 5% swing from domestic to corporate customers among its members.

Its CEO, Rodney Walker, reflected that “if you are starting up a business in today’s landscape it makes sense to use a facility that is flexible and cheap. For start-ups, self storage has always been a potentially more cost-effective way of getting established.”

The article then gave an overview of a number of start-up companies who have chosen to base themselves in self storage units.

The Gods of War Mixed Martial Arts Gym in Safestore Self Storage, Reading

In the Reading branch of Safestore, Catherine and Philip Edge run a gym which teaches mixed martial arts (MMA) to nearly 300 students.

They decided to leave their former premises in a conventional fitness gym because it didn’t have a cage (professional MMA contests take place in an octagonal cage fitted with mats). However, they found that the costs of renting a dedicated MMA gym were huge, so self storage made an attractive alternative for their business.

They originally moved into an 880 sq ft unit, which they fitted with a cage and all the other necessary equipment, before taking down a partition wall and expanding into the one next door as more people used their gym.

Their gym now has weights, cardio-vascular equipment, lockers and a studio area, and they’ve even struck an agreement with the manager to let their customers use the staff shower.

The Edges particularly like the fact that they are able to expand so easily, as well as the monthly rental cost being all-inclusive with no additional business rates or utility bills to pay. As Catherine put it: ”Everything is included in one price so it is so much easier to budget.”

Limbcare, a charity based in Access Self Storage in Addlestone, Surrey

Limbcare is a charity, founded by Roy Wright, that aids amputees with new prosthetic limbs and transports used ones to benefit people who need them in Tanzania.

Roy Wright founded Limbcare after suffering an unfortunate accident when the floor of a supermarket gave way underneath him in 2009, leaving him with internal bleeding which led to gangrene in one of his legs.

While undergoing rehabilitation in hospital, he met Ray Edwards, a fellow patient who was himself a quadruple amputee, and they decided to set up Limbcare together last year. Their team visits amputees in hospital and operates a 24-hour support line, as well as sending prosthetics that their users no longer need to Africa. There is a large supply of used prosthetic limbs – which would previously have been incinerated – as adults regularly need to be fitted with new ones because their stumps change shape over time.

The Limbcare team are grateful to the self storage centre for letting them use its space rent-free, as they are a charity, and for providing a ground-floor unit that they can access without having to go up flights of stairs.

Stockport Music Academy in Safestore Self Storage, Stockport

Musician Paul Bowe runs the Stockport Music Academy from Safestore Self Storage in Stockport, where he rents 1,500 sq ft of storage space and employs six people.

A long-time guitarist who started touring with bands when he was 16, Paul Bowe has fitted his self storage unit with sound-proofing, as well as wood and polythene to improve the acoustics, and built a recording studio.

Basing himself in a self storage unit was much cheaper than any alternative premises as he could get the first six months for free while he concentrated on finding customers, and is able to use all his electric instruments and amps without incurring any extra utility bills.

Now nearly 200 people use the Stockport Music Academy, guided by four guitar tutors, drum teachers and vocal coaches. He has even been able to start a partnership with Stockport Council, teaching free music lessons to children from low-income backgrounds.

Wear Chemistry, an eco-fashion label based in Shurgard Self Storage, Kennington

Domestic partners Trish Richards and Brad Cheng decided to start their own eco-fashion label while on a travel sabbatical from their jobs several years ago, but knew they couldn’t afford the long-lease on a shop.

However, they had used self storage to store their possessions while they were away, and realized this could provide the perfect commercial base when they returned in 2010.

Wear Chemistry is a casual eco-clothing brand which seeks to emulate major labels making clothes in a similar style, such as Superdry, Bench or Diesel. Their clothes are all manufactured in Turkey at a Fairwear-accredited factory, meaning the eco-friendly aspect extends along the whole production chain.

They are particularly keen on using less water-intensive fabrics than cotton, such as bamboo and eucalyptus, sourced from dedicated eco-friendly textile farms.

They like being based in a self storage unit because they can keep all their packaging (they sell mostly online) in the same space as the stock, and then distribute it through the nearby Post Office when they need to send an order out.