NOW IS THE TIME TO GET INVOLVED WITH SELF STORAGE

DO NOT MISS THE TRAIN. ONLY 45% OF THE SPANISH POPULATION UNDERSTAND SELF STORAGE (TRASTEROS)

Although the self-storage industry in Spain is less than a decade old, expansion is higher than the European average.

Despite the Spanish self-storage industry not emerging until 2001, its expansion and acceptance has been some of the fastest in the "Old World." In fact, this market's growth is higher than the European average. 

Spain ranks No. 4 in the European Union in terms of the number of self-storage facilities, behind Great Britain, The Netherlands and France. And the prosperity of uStore-it as one of  the country's fastest growing  self­ storage operators, matches that of the general industry.

Contributing Factors

The flourishing of Spain's storage industry is the result of large, latent demand driven by the country's social and demographic conditions, which have led to an increased need for residential and commercial storage in major urban areas:

• Metropolitan areas such as Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia boast large populations.
• Changes in the residential real estate sector have resulted in higher prices and the construction of much smaller houses with square footage below the European average.
• Spanish disposable income has significantly increased, and more people are buying houses, and need storage during their relocation.

The market's spectacular growth is also due to the increase of public knowledge regarding self-storage. This has happened due to factors like proximity, visibility, the Internet and, of course, the high advertising investments of operators.

Industry Snapshot

According to the figures provided by the Spanish Self-Storage Association, approximately 70 storage facilities are operating in the country(2008)

• 39 percent are in Catalonia (the autonomous region leader in the industry, mostly in the county of Barcelona).
• 23.4 percent are in Madrid.
• 14.6 percent are in the Comunidad Valenciana (half in Valencia, half in Alicante).
• 7.3 percent in the Balearic Islands (most of them in Palma de Mallorca).
• 15.7 percent are in Andalusia (Malaga), Basque Country (San Sebastian and Vitoria) and Asturias (Aviles).

Spanish self-storage demographics indicate 70 percent of customers are individuals and 30 percent are businesses requiring temporary or permanent space. Those statistics are similar in the rest of the European countries. 

Market Potential

The latest survey statistics indicate the robust growth of the Spanish storage market. The accompanying chart compares the number of sites in the countries leading the European industry, and the years in which those storage markets were launched.

Only six years after the introduction of self-storage to Spain, the market's growth has surpassed that of most European countries. But recently, two major factors have contributed to a slowdown of the Spanish economy. The decline is being driven by real estate prices, which have reached the highest levels in history. Yet, Spanish spending power has not achieved average European levels.

These factors may hinder overly ambitious business plans. A similar situation occurred in France a few years ago when, after the initial years of high market growth, a slowdown period followed, and many self-storage operators disappeared.

Non Stop Growth

In October 2014,  I opened my  first self-storage site in Manilva under the Ustore-it brand name. The pioneer facility was in a l building with 250 units and about 1,000 square meters of space. Our aim was to build the Spanish self-storage market by Franchising and offering the highest quality of service. 

The industry was new and had few customers, but awareness of the product increased quickly, and within a few months, units started to rent at a rate of 250 square meters per month. Indeed as is still happening today customers are in need of instance space and through demand for Ustore-it space customers are actually bringing their items for storage and we are building storage units around their items)

Only five years after its opening, Ustore-it now has 13 facilities with 6 Franchise Partners and has become one of the fastest growing Franchise storage operators in Spain, with more than 800 units under rental and offering more than 6,000 square meters of space and with 6  more facilities are under discussion with potential Franchise Partners.

The growth of ustore-it parallels that of the Spanish industry. 

After the first facility opened in Manilva , we established sites in La Linea (5) and Palmones (1)  and opened other new facilities in Duquesa, Alhaurin de la Torre and San Pedro all along the costa del Sol. 

Investing in Growth

The uStore-it strategy  is to appoint six to eight new Franchise Partners per year, with the objective of having 45 operational stores in Spain within five years. These facilities will be in all major Cities, because of their higher storage demand and growth potential.

To meet its expansion aims over the next 12 months, Ustore-it has secured the assistance of various National Banks in assisting the financial support for our Franchisees(subject to status) 

Self-storage is growing more rapidly in Spain than in most European countries. It's an industry of great economic potential due to increasing social demand and awareness. Spanish self-storage is quickly marching toward acceptance, expansion and prosperity, with Ustore-it hand-in-hand.

Entrepreneur Mark Hare is founder, director general, and major shareholder of uStore-it Buddies SL self-storage. He was responsible for the introduction of the Cash Converters franchise into Europe and the eventual launch of a very successful main board floatation on the London Stock Exchange 

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[i] Source – Inside Self Storage 2008 and uStore-it 2023