By Antonio delos Reyes, 3 May 2017
Over time, houses become increasingly cramped as homeowners collect items which they do not throw out or sell for personal reasons. Perhaps it is that sofa a couple bought during their honeymoon that is now repurposed as a magazine and book stand, or maybe the boxes of children’s toys which have served their purpose now that the kids have all grown up.
In the past, people would call a warehousing company to pick up and store their items. However, many are leery of letting strangers handle their personal possessions. There is also an underlying concern that these items would not be stored properly.
This led to the emergence of the self-storage industry, which started out in the United States and Europe, expanding to China, Japan and Singapore, and now making its way to the Philippines.
Loc&Stor, the first self-storage facility in the country, is the brainchild of Sam Peterson, who partnered with his wife Anna, and her sister, Reina Licauco. Peterson has worked extensively with other self-storage companies in constructing their facilities in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, China and Thailand.
After a year of market studies, exploration and rigorous planning, he saw that Filipinos were ready for a world-class self-storage facility and opened the first Loc&Stor 24/7 facility in 2014, located in the heart of the metro, a few blocks away from C5 road.
“When we were looking for a lot to build our facility, I wanted to make sure that we would be flood-free. This area was not flooded even when typhoon Ondoy hit, so I chose this location,” Peterson said.
This attention to detail can be seen in the company’s storage facility. An elevated docking area allows trucks and container vans to easily unload their cargo. Aside from its secure location within a compound, customers are provided with their own unique PIN code to enter the facility, which also activates/deactivates the alarm of their unit.
Read more at Malaya Business Insight: Self-Storage at its best
