The term ‘self-storage’ is short for ‘self-service storage’, also known as ‘mini storage’. A self-storage business provides storage rooms, lockers and/or outdoor space for rent. They rent self-storage spaces to individuals (usually storing household goods) and small businesses (usually storing excess inventory or archived records). Rental contracts run from as short as 1 day up to 2 years.
Rented spaces are usually secured by the tenant's own lock and key. Unlike a warehouse, employees of a self-storage business do not have access to the contents of the space, limiting the storage operator’s liability regarding the renter’s possessions. The facility itself is equipped with security cameras, alarms and access control to safeguard clients’ items and provides 24-hour access.
Unlike traditional real estate, self-storage operators can adjust rents as demand fluctuates.
If customers are in default of payment, you may control access to their units by locking them with an over-locking management padlock.
Unlike traditional real-estate-related businesses, a self-storage facility can employ one or two sales staff to run the business during the day.
Maintenance of a self-storage facility is minimal as the storage units are almost maintenance-free and customer traffic is low, which limits usage maintenance.
For an idea of the main self-storage markets and their sizes, we’ve collected data on a number of markets to give you an idea.
“When we look at the future of self-storage, we see a bright future with lots of growth”, says Colin Jeromson, Managing Director of Steel Storage Europe Ltd.
“We’ve been working in this business since 1990 and have seen each market we operate in grow exponentially since the self-storage concept was first introduced”, he continues. “At that time the USA market was at 3.0ft2 (0.28m2) per head of population and Australia at 0.3ft2 (0.028m2). I thought the USA was saturated back then and that Australia would grow to around 0.8ft2 (0.074m2) But that is all academic now, because the USA reached 7.4ft2 (0.69m2) per head of population in 2011 and Australia 1.2ft2 (0.11m2)… and both markets are still growing! And the rest of the world is still way behind these two markets, but it’s climbing. There is certainly a lot of opportunity for this business in other parts of the world.”
“We see the opportunity for strong growth in Europe and Asia. Europe has begun to develop with huge potential and success from current owners as well as entrepreneurs. New investment groups and start-ups are entering the self-storage business in Europe – with UK, France and Spain gaining ground.”
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