Self Storage facilities first appeared in the United States of America in the 1960’s and since that time the industry has grown to account for nearly 53,000 facilities across the country. Self Storage arrived in Europe early 1980.
The industry continues to grow steadily across Europe, while this growth has slowed since the recession it is starting to show signs of increasing again in many countries, fueled by the growth of multi-site operators as well as smaller businesses looking to diversify into the sector. The industry is proving to be resilient to the economic downturn.
There are a number of reasons why both consumers and businesses are increasingly turning to self storage, but the primary reasons remain social factors such as moving home, marriage, divorce, retirement and for businesses self storage proves useful for a number of reasons including soring archive, stock or office equipment. In addition to this, public awareness of the industry (often because of high visibility centres found on major arterial roads around most of the country’s leading cities and towns) has also contributed to its growth.