Self-Storage Company In £6million Roll-Out

Smart Storage is expanding its existing units in Wirral and Liverpool and opening new ones in Widnes and Warrington. Further operations are planned in other parts of the North West and Yorkshire with a target of 10 being up and running by the end of 2008. Bridges Community Ventures is providing £3.6million on top of £1.3million already invested in the business, while Royal Bank of Scotland is committing £2.34million funding.

Jon Wyles and his business partner John Harrington opened the first Smart Storage at the old Candy Works in Bromborough two years ago. This site is about to double in size to 60,000 sq ft – making it one of the biggest self storage facilities in the North of England. Its second unit in Derby Road, Liverpool, opened for business in July last year and has just increased in size by a further 10,000 sq ft with the addition of a mezzanine floor. New sites in Widnes, and Warrington, will open for business during the Summer. Both will offer an initial 10,000 sq ft growing to 40,000 and 36,000 sq ft respectively.

Jon Wyles, Managing Director of Smart Storage, said: “The new investment by Bridges Community Ventures and RBS firmly establishes Smart Storage as the leading self storage provider in the North of England. “We are meeting the demand of individuals and businesses to store everything from legal documents and construction equipment to skis, golf clubs and wine collections. “About 70 per cent of our customers are residential and the rest commercial. “Our customers include people moving home or renting to those just wanting a good clearout.”

Self-storage is massive in the United States with more than 38,000 sites across the country, but has only recently started to take off in the UK. Smart Storage customers have their own key and can access their units at any time during opening hours. Each customer is given their own unique pin number to enter their storage room and then re-enter the number on leaving to reactivate the alarm. Each unit is fully covered by CCTV and the intruder alarm is linked to the police.

Smart Storage’s reception is open 8-6 Monday to Friday, 9-5 on Saturday and 10-4 on Sunday with 24-hour access available upon request.