Newport-based self-storage specialists are on course to double in size over the next 2 years, having grown their occupancy rates during the pandemic.
The firm, which is the largest private self-storage provider in Wales and the second largest in the UK, has sites across Wales, The Midlands and the M4 corridor, and it is pressing ahead with plans to open new sites in Bridgend, Nottingham, and two in the West Midlands in the coming months.
Storage Giant MD, Simon Williams, said: “The past year has been a difficult one both for individuals and for businesses and we have all faced real challenges. I am pleased we have been able to meet the needs of our clients and customers throughout the pandemic and we have been able to increase the number of SMEs and start-ups under our roof, too. We are well positioned and looking forward to opening new sites across the UK in the coming months and years.”
“During the spring/summer of 2020 we saw occupancy and revenue grow by more than six percent and fourteen percent respectively, with nine out of our ten sites increasing occupancy, in part due to a shift in people’s working habits and associated storage needs, and in part because of new start-up businesses aligned to the shift to trading online. Our Welsh sites, in Newport, Swansea, Cwmbran and Llanelli fared particularly well.
“We have just submitted a proposal to Walsall Council to build a new facility on a vacant site in that area, we have very recently signed up to open new premises at a £30m mixed-use scheme in Nottingham, and we have a new site in Kingswinford progressing towards completion as we speak. We also have plans to open a new Storage Giant facility to serve Bridgend in 2021. Our job creation studies show that these new sites are likely to create hundreds of new jobs. They will supply vital start-up space for entrepreneurs to set up their businesses with low risk and low outlay costs.
“Storage Giant began life in 2007, during a deep recession, as a single-unit concern and we are very proud to be a thriving business now, with a well-functioning business model and a real commitment to safeguarding local jobs and local economies.”
Storage Giant opened a mixed-sue site in Bristol in 2020 and expanded its footprint in Swansea last year too.