Archive for the ‘Self Storage News’ Category

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Help! Ringo Starr’s old house needs saving – could self-storage be the answer?

Friday, August 27th, 2010

A Save Madryn Street campaign has started in Liverpool to save number 9 – birthplace of Ringo Starr – from demolition.   The battle between developers, the local authority and local firms – who argue that tourism value of the Beatle houses makes them worth saving – has hotted up since demolition notices were posted. Something can be done surely?

One suggestion gaining momentum is to pull the house down and rebuild it somewhere else – maybe off a bend in the Long and winding road or perhaps somewhere in Penny Lane.  The impending demolition means they’ll need Eight days a week to organise the logistics for moving a house from A to B, or more aptly, From me to you.

One solution would be to take it down and not to rebuild it – yet.
Stick it into storage while you decide what to do with it.

As Beatles fans ourselves we were left wondering how much space a dismantled house would use?  What size of unit would you need to store a dismantled house?   We’re sure We can work it out…    …or is it better to just Let it be.

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Posted in Household storage, Self Storage Lifestyle, Self Storage News | No Comments »

A place to keep the Porsche, Lotus and Lambo’s when you’re not using them.

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

When it comes to extravagance – the Americans do it best…

Here’s our quick look at Six of the Most Extravagant Storage Companies in the U.S.

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When you already have the most competitive prices – how do you add value?

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

It’s an out-and-out ABC Selfstore shout-about this week.

We know it’s not what we normally do with our blog – but we’re excited about some great news for customers at all three of our self storage centres – in Wandsworth, Southwark and Camden.

We’re constantly looking at ways to give better value to our customers. Our Price Promise and only pay for the days you stay guarantee already mean that we can’t be beaten on price.  We also go the extra mile to give our customers friendly helpful service that’s second to none (to see how we walk-the-walk have a look at what our customers say).

When customers are happy it would be easy to be complacent - but if you know us you’ll know that’s not our style. So we asked the people who store with us what we might do to improve our offer.

The result is that we’ve extended our opening hours at weekends.
You’ll now be able to access your unit from 8am until 6pm Saturdays and from 10am until 5pm Sundays.  And don’t forget late night opening until 8pm on Thursdays.

Of course – is that isn’t enough – 24hr storage is available on selected units at our Wandsworth and Southwark stores.

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ABC Selfstore’s take on the Daily Mail article

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Last week we spotted Mark Palmer’s article in the Daily Mail:

Small homes, lots of stuff…no wonder self-storage is thriving…

It’s a great piece which explains the dilemma for today’s small home owner – and how self storage presents an ideal solution.  But – as you might expect if you’ve experienced ABC Selfstore’s passion good honest value -there’s one thing that’s been grating us.  In the article Mark highlights, “I was paying more than £180 a month at Access for a 50 sq ft unit. …it was like having another mortgage” and goes on to highlight the tempting deals that ‘rue you in’.

Now, we don’t know quite how much stuff Mark had to store – but it occurred to us there’s a chance he’s fallen in to the classic over-estimation trap.  Understanding just how much you can fit into a storage unit is crucial in managing costs.  Of course, you can always size-up – if you need more space – and size down if you need less, but it pays to get it right first time and it’s much less hassle later.

Caring storage companies – like us – will help you make sure you get it just right.  As a starting point check out our space estimator – but if you’re still not sure talk to one of our team. They’ll be only too happy to help.

And don’t forget to check those terms and conditions.

Is there a minimum storage period or (like with us) do you only pay for the days you stay? That way, if you do need to scale up or down on your unit you won’t be stung with an extra fee. If you’re really lucky you’ll get some other helpful services thrown in – such as Free Van hire – to get our stuff to your storage unit.

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Game, Set and Match

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

With Roger Federer’s shock defeat to Tomas Berdych it looks like Andy Murray will have his best chance yet to win the All England Lawn Tennis Club Championship. Or Wimbledon, to give it its more familiar title.

Wimbledon is a 9 minute drive from our Wandsworth Store. Handy then – if you need somewhere to store your spare rackets, whites and shoes while you are competing – along with any merchandising stock.

But even if you’re Roger Federer or Venus Williams it seems you can’t be sure of seeing out the full two weeks of the tournament.  As if the disappointment of coming home early isn’t enough – imagine being hit with a bill for storage for the full two weeks (or heaven forbid month) when your stuff was already being shipped to the next tournament venue. You can almost hear McEnroe, ‘”you cannot be serious, you’re billing me for a month when I was only here a week? Everyone can see that’s out o’ line, man’”

Store with us and you only pay for the days you stay and at our Wandsworth site and you can even claim the VAT Back too. Game, Set and Match in the Value and Service Championship to ABC Selfstore then.

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Things you are unlikely to see after the election … Part 2.

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Okay, it seems that our early thoughts around an unlikely scenario post general election turned out to be not-so-unlikely. With the exception of Vince Cable becoming Business Secretary (rather than Chancellor of the Exchequer) we were almost spot on about the coalition government.

Maybe we should add Psychic consultancy the great list of customer extras you get in store at ABC Selfstore?  Somewhere the good folk of Camden and Islington, Wandsworth and Southwark can come to find out what destiny will bring them over the next month. We read runes for you would make a good strapline.

We’d have to adapt our methodology.  No tea-leaves or Tarot cards at ABC.  We reckon it’s all in the bubble wrap.  So what does therapeutic god of popping plastic predict for the coalition over the next year?

Well we’ve already seen the Daily Telegraph break yet another parliamentary expenses scandal – and a high profile cabinet member leave office.

“removal van for Mr Laws please… ”

It’s not just Iain Duncan-Smith that thinks he’ll be back though. We popped the plastic fantastic, beseeched the bubble-wrap and we think he’ll be back in the cabinet within the year, maybe sooner.

Stranger things have happened and you never know when the call will come.  So a sage choice in the mean-time would be to put the Law belongings into storage – preferably nearby at a convenient London location that charges by the day and has no notice on move out. That’ll be somewhere like ABC Selfstore in Camden then.

Come to think of it that goes for any Cabinet Minister with a yet-to-be-revealed-by-the-tabloids-skeleton-in-the-closet. If you’re worried you might soon be needing to ‘do a Mandleson’ and take a break from government for a while – then we’ll be able to help. We’ll even throw in some free Van Hire to help you save those expenses…

Posted in 2010 Election, About ABC Selfstore, Business storage, Free Van Hire, Household storage, Self Storage News, Van HIre | Comments Off

What do I do with all of that St.Georges stuff…

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

The England Football team are home early after another traditionally disappointing display from our squad of World-class players.  It seems no one explained to them that the World Cup is the best event for World class players to show off their World class talents.

If you – like us – got stuck into showing your support for our national team, it’s likely you’ll have adorned your house, car and probably body with various interpretations of the St George flag.  Last Sunday you might even have gone as far as having your face painted, squeezed countless lung-fulls of breath through a Red and White vuvuzela and chanted En-ger-land, En-ger-land. Oh, and probably shouted something we shouldn’t repeat here about the referee.

Following England’s swift exit we’re all facing a dilemma.  Do we leave all the flags in place until the tournament has finished – or take it all down in protest at just how poor our team were?

Either way it’ll be consigned to storage until the next tournament England qualify for. Let’s hope that our World Class abilities resurface and it’s UEFA Euro 2012.

Posted in ABC Selfstore - in sport, Football World Cup 2010, Household storage, Self Storage Lifestyle, Self Storage News | Comments Off

I f’awt I told you t’a stay in the vaaaaan….

Monday, June 7th, 2010

So you’ve got some things that need shifting and have decided self storage is the answer – the tricky bit is getting it from A to B. It’s too valuable for the dump, too big to fit in the car and trying to haul it down the stairs on your own would just end up with a you-shaped-Banksy-esque mural impressed on the hallway wall.

Once you’ve lined up your storage and roped in a mate (or two) you’ll need to get yourself a suitable vehicle.  Usually a white van.  If you’re really unlucky it’ll come adorned with the traditional dashboard fayre of the previous tenants: a copy of the News of the World, the wrappings of a McMeal, a half eaten Ginsters and an empty ‘grab bag’ of Walkers cheese and onion. And a fuel needle that’s below the red.

Then you’ll have to go and pick it up, get back through the London traffic to your pad, load up, drive to your self- storage centre,  drop the van back off at the van rental place and finally get back to your pad.   Or to put it another way – from A to B, back to A, then to C, then back to B and then back to A again. Six trips, minimum, all through van-loving London traffic.

There’s a far easier answer though.  You could just store with ABC Selfstore and we’ll throw in a 1/2 day’s Free Van Hire. You pick it up from us and leave it with us when you’ve unloaded and you’re done.   And as our van offer is in conjunction with Streetvan it’ll come without those (un)savory dashboard extras. To find out all the details give your nearest store a ring.

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Posted in About ABC Selfstore, Business storage, Free Van Hire, Household storage, Self Storage Lifestyle, Self Storage News, Van HIre | Comments Off

Making Room for Business

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

It’s a tricky thing to plan business development when there’s so much uncertainty about what – economically speaking – is likely to happen next. So it’s understandable that most of us don’t want to take any undue risks. As the much talked about green shoots of recovery start to sprout you might be looking at ways to expand your business – but how do you keep expansion risk-free with the added uncertainty of a volatile economic climate? Especially when part of that expansion is likely to be limited by the cost of the physical space you need to operate your business.

Priya Cinar, Store Manager at ABC Selfstore Camden in York Way explains, “We’re seeing more and more business customers looking for flexibility in the way they use physical space. Some want to be in a position where they can plan stock storage around demand, others to be ready to react – either way – to uncertain economic conditions. Flexibility is the key and being tied into a long-term lease doesn’t really allow that. Our business customers like the fact that they can rent the storage space they need by the day, without being tied into lengthy contracts.”

So if you’re about to take delivery of your summer colections, need to move clutter out of the office to make room for new staff or just need more storage space – self storage is well worth considering.

And if you’re new to it ABC Selfstore’s website – www.abcselfstore.co.uk/flexible – has a handy ‘Self storage for beginners’ guide.

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Try not to get addicted to popping the bubble wrap

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

In the second installment of our hints and tips on getting the best from your self storage – we look at organising your unit and packaging your things.

So you’ve planned your move-in with the precision of a special forces operation. You know what’s going in which box and the order they’ll go into your unit. Great, but it’s worth giving the layout of your unit and packaging of the stuff you want to store some thought as well.  There’s nothing worse than finding your back catalogue of first edition Beatles vinyl has been wrecked – because you boxed it vertically – and then stacked the last 10 years worth of subscriptions to Rolling Stone magazine on top.

Firstly – leave space for access to the rear of the unit and avoid leaning things against walls – it helps ventilation. Whilst professional storage units are warm and dry the things you are storing could need to breathe.

Secondly – protect fragile items with bubble wrap, mark the box ‘Fragile’ and avoid putting heavy items on top. You may of course get sidetracked by the therapeutic properties of bubble-wrap. This link might help you get that urge out of the way.

You can also make the most of your space by dismantling furniture where possible (you’ll fit more in). Detach legs from tables and beds to save space and wrap the legs in more of that bubble wrap to avoid damage. Likewise stacking chairs seat to seat can also help save space and putting cloth or bubble wrap in between will help protect them if they are valuable or antique.  In fact, covering the lot with dust sheets is a good idea to keep them protected from scratches or bumps.

If you are storing clothes then using wardrobe boxes to keep them on hangers is a must if you want to avoid them getting mis-shaped. Stand mattresses on end and avoid stacking heavy items on soft furnishings, besides laying them down might encourage you to take a nap and you’re not allowed to sleep in your storage unit.

Of course, if you need real bubble wrap – or any packaging items for storing for that matter – you can get them from our shop in store, or from boxes to move.

Happy storing – and don’t forget you can find out more hints and tips for storing on our website in our Self-storage for beginners section on the ABC Selfstore website.

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