Storage Blog

Storage World invests €3m in new units

Source: Sunday Business Post, 6th March 2011

Storage World, an Irish-owned operator of  self-storage units, has  invested €3 million over nine years to open  three units in Dublin, Cork  and Limerick. It has earmarked further  investment of €5 million to €7  million to bankroll expansion into  Britain and emerging European  markets.

The company is close to  completing the fit-out of its Dublin  facility in Whiteheather Industrial  Estate, which began trading last  September.’ ‘We secured a 65,000  square foot site on the South Circular  Road in early 2010, built out the  Dublin facility and started trading  in September,” said Aidan O’Brien,  director, Storage World.

“We knew if we could find a site close  to the city centre, there  would be significant demand as there were no  other self-storage  facilities in the city centre. With the  exception of one in Deansgrange, the others are all based  outside the  M50. Our hunch has paid off and the first phase is already  80 per cent  full. The second and third phase developments are starting next month.”

Storage  World opened for business in 2002 in Limerick, where it has a   self-storage facility in Eastlink Business Park. In addition to the   Dublin site, it also has a premises in Mary Street in Cork, which opened in 2009.’ ‘Self-storage is about alleviating people’s short-term   storage requirements.

It is not an enormously well-known concept in Ireland, but it is very big in the US, Australia and New Zealand,” said O’Brien. “You rent rooms from 25 to 500 square feet over periods from as little as a month to as long as you want. You pay a set charge with no rates, management fees or ESB bills,” he said.

Storage World has 12 staff and, according to O’Brien, it generated revenues of between €1 million and €2 million last year. O’Brien is a full-time partner in the business, having bought into the company in 2008. He  said that 65 per cent of Storage World’s customers were homeowners  who  were moving, redecorating or emigrating. He said the remainder  were  businesses, which included coffee shops, fashion retailers, print   companies and interior designers.

“We split the warehouse space  into a number of mezzanine levels,  sub-divided those levels and put a  passenger lift running throughout  the building,” he said.’ ‘You are  given your own unique code to access  the facility 24/7 and only your  specific unit is deal armed. Everything is monitored round-the-clock with CCTV, so we see who is entering and leaving. That gives people peace of mind.”

O’Brien said the company planned to have three self-storage units up and running in London within three months.

“Earlier  this month, we signed a partnership and management deal  with a UK  institutional landlord to roll out storage facilities within  central  London’s congestion charge zone,” he said. “Commercial space within that area is usually leased for a minimum of 12 months, which is very inflexible for storage needs. We will now be able to provide a network storage sites in central London to provide convenience to residents and businesses. The first three facilities should be o pen within eight to ten weeks.”