The rise and rise of self-storage in the UK – why do we need so much space?

BBC News has published a story on the rise and rise of self-storage – so what do we know about this growing sector?

Here are the main facts we picked up from the article, with figures taken from the Self Storage Association (SSA).

• There are now 1,500 self-storage centres in the UK
• Use of self-storage centres increased by 9% last year, compared to 2016
• Nearly a third of customers have had a unit for more than three years
• More than a quarter of self-storage customers (27%) use storage because their homes are too small
• The average UK household is 2.4 people – more than Germany and France
• BUT – the UK has the smallest average property size

More and more domestic self-storage customers see self-storage as an extension of their home, and look on their units fondly as part of their home. We feel like our customers are all part of the Store First family!

However, there are some pointers in the BBC article which are not strictly true for all storage centres.

The article claims that an average price for a 90 sq ft unit is £100 – £150 a month in the North of England. When you choose Store First as your self-storage provider, you can book a 100 sq ft unit at our Blackburn centre, for example, for less than half of this price for the first three months, thanks to our 50% off the first 12 months introductory offer every customer.

Although the story says most centres have short notice periods of a month, at Store First there is no notice to vacate your storage unit at any time. Simply pay up to the day you need it, then move out whenever you need to.

While many storage companies put prices up, as the story states, here at Store First we don’t put our prices up for customers. The price you pay when you move in is the price you’ll pay for as long as you need storage.

If you want to find out more by reading the story, you can find it here.