The concept of storing items of personal use in warehouses has caught the imagination of many. For example; a young lady who had a collection of stuffed toys didn’t want to throw them away as they had sentimental value. She found a solution in StoreMore, a Delhi-based company with storing units in Noida and Gurgaon.
“The idea to start this began in 2010 when we were helping organisations manage their documents. During that time many wanted to know if we also stored household articles. To take our business to the next level, we formally started offering our service of storing items in 2013,” Pooja Kothari, director with StoreMore says.
One can store anything provided it is not illegal, inflammable and liquid. One can also not store valuables or cash. “We’ve a 1.65 cubic feet and 3 cubic feet storage space. The smaller storage is for items like books, documents and files. The larger is for clothes,” she states. The charges for the storage unit for up to 10 boxes is Rs 500 pm, 20 boxes it is Rs 700 per month and up to 50 boxes, it is Rs 1,250 pm. Then for every additional box the charge is Rs 50 per box (1.65 cft) and Rs 100 per box (3 cft) provided that one is already enrolled in a box plan.
To access these one can either call the company and have it delivered or visit the storing facility with prior appointment. “While we prefer that people pack things on their own, for a fee, we will pack for them too,” Kothari explains. If it is books, a person will not only pack it for you, he will also make a list and tell you which book is in which box making it easy.
Believe it or not the company will also store your car if you are going away for a long period in the storage unit’s drive way. A mechanic will disconnect the battery and drain out the petrol. The units have a 15-day check as far as pest control is concerned. Only the person with a bar code can access the boxes and the contents therein. “Security of the items is a major concern. To address this, we have CCTVs all around. We have recording for six months in all our units in Gurgaon,” Dr Manjali Khosla, MD of Self Storage India says.
The services provided by Khosla is based on the overseas concept where people store their items for just the summers. “Our services is unique because the clients can access the unit rented 24X7. One can store furniture — sofas, beds, dining table, kitchen utensils, clothes, books, in one room and lock it,” she says.
If this isn’t enough, the company also has AC rooms. “Items like art work and expensive wood furniture that needs to be protected from heat can be stored too. However, we need to check them regularly. The client has to sign a waiver that they haven’t stored any item that is illegal, inflammable, cash, jewellery, etc,” she informs.
With rooms the size varying from 65 sq feet to up to 300 sq feet and the charges ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 12,000 depending upon the plan that the client has taken, the demand for these rooms is high. “With 25 enquiries a month and eight turning into business ventures, there are times when we have had to turn down the client. We’re in our phase II and have added 25 new smaller rooms. We hope that these will be rented out by December and that is when we will enter phase III,” Khosla tells you.