Aberdeen’s first keyless self-storage business is set for a £90,000 expansion.
A year ago former Aberdeen University graduate Brian Barbour turned his back on a career as a lawyer to launch the Bridge of Don facility.
With is now sitting at anywhere between 80 to 95% capacity the 32-year-old has decided now is the time for the next stage of growth.
He is investing more money in storage units, taking his total close to 100.
Storage Den growing
Brian decided open in Aberdeen after seeing a gap in the market.
He said: “The business has come a long way in the past year.
“It’s grown to what would be considered mature. At the moment it hovers between 80 to 95% occupancy.
“Next month I’ll only have three units available.”
Storage Den, based in Bridge of Don Industrial Estate, currently has 76 storage units ranging in size from 25 sq ft to 200 sq ft, and are all individually alarmed with motion sensors and monitored with CCTV.
Customers can access through an easy-to-use tailored app, making the need for a key redundant.
Customer demand
Brian is set to spend anything between £60,000 and £90,000 on up to 30 new containers.
He said: “It’s a significant amount of money for me, but I don’t feel it’s risky because I can see the demand it’s getting.
“I’ve already got a waiting list for containers I’ve bought.”
Brian, who lives in Edinburgh, said business owners, families, offshore oil workers and students all make use of the space available.
The Storage Den site was previously occupied by Autospray but had been empty since 2019.
More sites in the pipeline
Looking towards the future he is keen to open up more facilities and hasn’t ruled out more in the north-east.
He said: “I am fully looking for other places, but funding is the main thing.
“I’m just having to build up capital. Once I’ve done this expansion and the site is at capacity in terms of the units I can hold, the next step is finding that new site and just replicating the model.
“Aberdeen is definitely in contention, but like there’s several other places in Scotland and even England as well.
“The only thing about Aberdeen is the economic uncertainty related to how the government is treating oil and gas at the moment.”
Storage Den was recently named independent self storage site of the year at the Self Storage Association UK (SSA UK) awards.
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