Growing firm gives peace of mind

Oct 11 2007 By The Journal

PEOPLE who have driven on the Coast Road in the past year or so are probably aware of the building occupied by Storage Centres. Many will have noticed the new building with the eye catching yellow band. It is opposite the Wills building in Heaton, serving the business community from Newcastle city centre through to North Tyneside.

Storage Centres also has a site in Gateshead, on the Felling bypass near Heworth roundabout, where its offer of pristine purpose-built store rooms for business and personal use is all the more convenient for people in the Gateshead and South Shields area.

Managing director Norman Galbraith, who is a past president of the European Self Storage Association, said: “Increasingly many businesses are finding that self storage is the answer to many longstanding storage problems.

“The increasing pressure on office space in any business is a problem; self storage is the answer to that problem. Nearly all businesses need to store files and in most businesses, self storage is the most efficient and cost efficient method of any of the storage options.

“We also provide storage space for sales reps, marketing samples, furniture during office moves and IT. Self storage is unbelievably clean and friendly to
use.”

Site manager Peter Barber said: “Every customer has their own private, clean, dry storage room, within our state-of-the-art warehouse. These rooms vary in size from a small locker to the size of a large triple garage.

“We have corridors that are brightly lit, with doors on each side. If I was comparing it to anything, it would be a hotel corridor, but our doors lead not to your bedroom, but to your private storage space.

“Lock the door with your own padlock, so only you have access to your store, and you know your goods will come out of storage in exactly the same condition as they went in.”

The aesthetics of the safe and secure environment created by Storage Centres are not only skin deep. The site is immaculate, and often surprises customers coming to look for the first time.

Self storage customers are split between businesses and home movers – and every business has a storage need at some stage. Director Rory Windham said: “For many customers we provide a tailor made solution. Our system works because people like it, because it is convenient and because it saves money. The place is really clean, because we care, and clean, secure storage is what it’s all about.”

The needs of businesses vary from the small company that legally needs to store a few archive boxes for seven years (which may rent a locker for just a few pounds a week), to large professional firms that need to store several thousand documents in a purpose-built store room.

Such a store will be designed to fit in with the customer’s file system, at a fraction of the cost of other file storage systems.

Norman Galbraith sums up his philosophy for the business. He said: “In today’s society people expect the best, and that is what we aim to deliver.

“People moving house are no longer keen to save money by storing their goods in a container at the back of an industrial estate or in a wooden crate stacked on top of other wooden crates, where furniture could get damaged.

“We aim to be a good place to do business – friendly, competent and helpful. And we offer the best in central and convenient locations.

“Our customers want regular access, they want their own private space and most of all they want peace of mind that their goods will be safe and secure. Businesses also need storage, and we give them the cleanest, friendliest environment they could imagine, bar none.” Over the coming weeks, Storage Centres is set to build 250 new store rooms in its stores to cater for local demand.

These rooms will vary in size from something similar to a changing room locker to a very large garage, ensuring that no customer pays for space they don’t require.

For information on how Storage Centres might be able to solve your personal or business storage problems call (0191) 265-5888 or visit www.storagecentres.co.uk