Tag Archives: low-cost

It’s Business As Usual Thanks to Self-Contained Storage

What do Britain’s largest online sex-toy retailer, the UK’s first specialist retailer of alcohol-free drinks and a leading international provider of commercial kitchen-safety systems have in common?

There’s a simple answer, but one that should have any budding entrepreneur thinking:

They all relied on self-storage during the start-up phase of business – and Filta, an American company that pioneered an innovative system for recycling cooking oil from commercial premises, continues to do so today. Every day, thousands of entrepreneurs around the globe make use of flexible, cost-effective self-storage to get their businesses off the ground. Why not join them?

The Toyshop with a Difference

Sex-toy retailer Lovehoney, which took its first order in April 2002, is now expanding worldwide, but can trace its origins to a small, unheated self-storage unit in Bath. The founders had very limited start-up capital and no experience of running an online business, so minimised their risk by following a low-cost route.

A flexible, affordable self-contained storage unit ticked all the boxes for the company’s distribution set-up, with the added advantage not only of being cheap, but also being exempt from business rates. The absence of heating and electricity presented some challenges, but the unit served Lovehoney’s purpose exceptionally well.

Drinks Without a Kick

In 2006, The Alcohol-Free Shop started life as a two-person business operating out of a 100-sq-foot self-storage unit in Manchester. The husband-and-wife owners spotted a niche for a specialist online retailer supplying health-conscious consumers with de-alcoholised wines and beers.

Keeping the financial risk of their new business to an absolute minimum was essential, and self-storage provided the ideal premises for their packing and despatch department. Within weeks, The Alcohol-Free Shop had grown into a larger operation, and continued to expand into bigger storage units during the following year. Today, it occupies a 12,000-sq-foot warehouse a few miles from its original premises.

Self-Storage for Your Start-Up Business

Reading Storage Solutions provides you with the same self-contained, easy-access self-storage, giving your business space to grow without breaking your budget. You also get complete flexibility if your needs change at short notice – either way. Our business-storage packages now include self-storage insurance at no extra cost – one less headache for a growing business.

Call us to find out more about our long-term and short-term storage units in Reading, complete with self-storage insurance – you won’t believe how easy it is to get your business off the ground!

Reclaim Your Spare Room Before It’s Too Late

Summer’s nearly gone and you should enjoy the last of the sunshine before the clocks go back – and while you’re at it, do that clearing out you’ve been putting off since the spring. That’s right, your spare room is still bursting at the seams, and like more than three-quarters of UK homeowners, you probably can’t even name five things you’ve stored there.

British homeowners just hate throwing stuff away – why else do we have more self-storage units than the whole of the rest of Europe? So just go with the flow and get your clutter out of your home and into somewhere better suited for it. For those of you in the Thames Valley, Reading Storage Solutions have flexible storage space just waiting for your unused appliances, unworn clothes and unloved gifts.

Hoarders’ Charter?

Not only does the UK lead the way in tucking things away for the proverbial rainy day, it has one of the most active industries for dreaming up new ways of storing them. Be it underbed storage baskets, in-cupboard storage drawers or good old-fashioned storage boxes, we can’t get enough of them. Maybe that’s why our homes are full to bursting with “stuff” – and the more the merrier!

Until it comes to getting rid of it, that is … more than half of us dread clearing out our long-lost junk, with the loft at the top of the list, followed closely by the spare room. The good news is, unlike our grandparents’ generation, we have alternatives to throwing it away, and many of us now use flexible self-storage units as an extension of our houses.

Cost-Effective and Convenient

Rather than fork out a small fortune on the latest storage gizmo that promises to fit an even larger quart in an ever-smaller pint pot, take an organised view of things and follow a plan. Tackle each of your crowded rooms in order and decide exactly what you need to keep at home, what you can’t bear to throw away but don’t use every day and what belongs in the skip. Then act …

Assuming you’re now looking at a neat, tidy spare room and a skip full of junk, the only task left is to find somewhere to put the things you know you’ll need someday. Your local self-storage company is the place to start. However much you’ve accumulated, you’ll find a storage unit to suit you at a price that won’t break the bank.

What Do I Do Next?

If you need extra space to store things, self-storage could be right for you. Reading Storage Solutions offers a generous amount of space at modest cost, and complete flexibility to change or terminate your agreement at short notice. Our competitive packages now include self-storage insurance at no extra cost – there’s no extra paperwork and no fuss.

Call us to find out more about our low-cost storage units in Reading, complete with self-storage insurance – you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to create that extra bit of space in your home and reclaim your spare bedroom for yourself!

3 Popular Things To Do With a Self-Storage Unit

Things We Just Can’t Throw Away

Keeping unused possessions with great sentimental value comes high on the list for many families. The Daily Telegraph reported a survey of storage unit users that highlighted old toys as one of the most common things to be found in a self-storage unit. Scalextric tracks and collections of vintage comics are particularly likely to be kept because of the memories associated with them.

Hot on the heels of toys come old clothes – because they either don’t fit or have fallen out of fashion. Clothes often have a powerful association with significant life events, and many an outfit worn on a first date, to a wedding or to some other special event can be found in one of the UK’s self-storage units. According to the survey, a wedding dress is the item of clothing most likely to be kept for years after the event.

Space for Making a Living

Small business owners and hobbyists account for a growing proportion of Britain’s self-storage users, according to The Independent and The Guardian. In the former category, both papers report the success of a highly popular martial arts gym housed in a Reading storage unit, while other commercial ventures include a bird-keeping supply business, a distributor of used prosthetic limbs and a music academy.

Hobby enthusiasts are to be found in storage units across the country. Music rehearsal venues are popular, and at RSS we know of several local groups that use self-storage for lighting and other stage equipment. You’ll also find fantasy adventure enthusiasts who keep role-play costumes in their units, dancers with makeshift studios at a fraction of the cost of a professional facility and volunteer groups with all types of equipment.

I Need More Room …

If you recognise yourself in one of these categories, or if your home is just that bit too small for all your “stuff”, self-storage could well be the answer. You get a generous amount of space at modest cost, and complete flexibility to change or terminate your agreement at short notice.

RSS offers practical, affordable storage facilities for short-term or long-term use, and there are only a few sensible restrictions on the type of goods you can store. All our units offer seven-day access during normal opening hours, and you can drive right up to your unit for easy loading and unloading – we accommodate cars, vans and small trucks.

Call us to find out more about our low-cost storage units in Reading – you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to create that extra bit of space in your home.