Are storage centres a home from home?

Can a storage centre be a home-from-home?

Often when using a self-storage facility, a householder will choose the company closest to their current location to make it easier to visit their goods. Price and customer service will also figure in this choice, but overall ‘location' is often the driver when choosing ‘who to store with.'

We like to be ‘close’ to our stuff

The thought that a person's goods are close by is comforting to them. It might be that their chosen storage centre is on their way to work and that they pass by it each and every day on their journey. Seeing that the building is there, they know that their belongings are safe and secure inside. Even if they don't need to access their storage, knowing that it is close by should they need something is comforting. Leaving personal belongings with a group of strangers is an odd, unsettling thing to do. Naturally, we want our belongings with us, but there are times in life when this is not possible so we look for somewhere safe to leave them and this, more often than not, is with a self-storage company.

A home-from-home

When I needed to use a self-storage facility, I found that when visiting my belongings it felt like a little home away from home. Packed inside cardboard boxes were the familiar items that I have collected during my life. Books, irreplaceable paperwork, and small things that reminded me of people or places. I found myself looking for paperwork in a rush – meaning to only be at the facility for ten minutes or so – but spotting something that I hadn't seen for ages and spending a couple of hours thinking over its significance in my life. Eventually, I took a small folding chair to my storage unit, and I would often look through cardboard boxes while sitting on it. In fact, the chair was one of the last things to be removed from the storage unit! A ‘home from home' is probably stretching it a little, but it certainly never felt like an unfriendly industrial building. At times it was actually quite pleasant, and I have to admit that the peace and quiet were often refreshing after a busy week.