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Storage Birmingham - UK's 2nd City
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Storage Birmingham - UK's 2nd City
Posted 03 August 2010When the concept of "Self Storage" came to the UK in the 1980’s, it was initially established in London and the South east; over time self storage developed throughout the UK with Birmingham, in particular, being well serviced by the industry. It has taken time however, for quality operators to establish themselves in Britain’s second city. The first phase of establishing Storage in Birmingham saw (predominantly) old warehousing sites in industrial areas being converted to offer a very basic form of Self Storage.
The key to the development of Self Storage in an urban environment is public awareness of the basic concept: what a self storage service has to offer and, how it works. Where Birmingham is concerned, the self storage established in the early years was not what could be described as, prominent. Also, the initial standards and quality of the actual storage service provided were not even close to, the high standards of service now offered in the self storage industry. Even the UK’s leading self storage operators failed to develop quality buildings; by opting for properties in secondary locations, largely without thought. It was as recent as 2007, before an operator developed the first, purpose-built self storage centre in Birmingham; as a result public awareness of the storage industry became increasingly evident.
The importance of a purpose-built self storage facility, for building public awareness, within a city cannot be underestimated. A purpose-built storage facility will be; correctly orientated for passing traffic to ensure maximised visibility, loading bays will highlight ease of access to and from the facility, the reception area will be spacious and customer orientated, and ideally a show-room is available to aid the explanation of storage size requirements to prospective customers. Upon arrival at a storage centre, the customer should be met with the easily distinguishing features of a facility designed to solve their storage space problems, regardless of their reasoning behind using a self storage service. More often than not, the reasoning for the customer is a stressful one, therefore the facility on a whole should significantly alleviate these stress levels; ultimately solving the customers’ problems by ensuring easy access, covered loading bay, clean facilities, highly trained and professional staff are but a few.
This attention to detail takes self storage concept to a new level; the advantages of using “self storage” before other forms of storage are accentuated as a result. This also assists the positive reputation for the industry itself and establishes it within a city. Once initial storage facility’s reputation and standard of service provision are recognised (and adopted) by other operators, the overall public perception is altered. As a result, self storage provision, service standards and storage profits improved, industry-wide. The internet has notably aided this process by, enabling vast quantities of detailed information on the services and options available to any individual or company considering the use of self storage to solve their space problems.
Storage Birmingham Vs Storage UK
Considering the UK’s 2nd city, Birmingham now boasts 3 purpose-built self storage facilities, offering Birmingham storage services city-wide. Although the UK’s second city has a hill to climb to offer the same standards of self storage service provided by facilities in the South; the population is showing increased awareness of services offered by Birmingham’s storage centres. There might not be the same volume of storage available however, the “quality” of services on offer for storage in Birmingham, is now fit to rival anywhere in the UK.
0 Comments | Posted By Alligator in Self Storage Centres
