0:00:04 > 0:00:06Hello Matthew, it's Natalie calling from Lok'nStore.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09What have you got going into storage?
0:00:09 > 0:00:13This is a story of powerful forces at work in Britain today.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18Our burning desire to have and to hold...
0:00:18 > 0:00:19Check that out.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21We'll keep this for our son in particular,
0:00:21 > 0:00:23he may have a use for something like this.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Our reverence for relics preserved from our past...
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Can't throw away a didgeridoo. It's not good karma, man.
0:00:30 > 0:00:35And our relentless quest for freedom and space in a crowded land.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38There's no room for the humans, so something's got to go.
0:00:38 > 0:00:39These are the forces
0:00:39 > 0:00:43that are feeding the gargantuan self-storage facilities
0:00:43 > 0:00:45that have sprung up across Britain.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50For a nation with more and more belongings -
0:00:50 > 0:00:52and less and less space to stash them away -
0:00:52 > 0:00:56self-storage is becoming a way of life.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01For many, self-storage is even a place of work.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06Obviously we'd like a window.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08Maybe a balcony.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10And for a generation of canny entrepreneurs,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14this is an industry that's offered surprisingly rich pickings.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17I felt like I'd come into the kitchen
0:01:17 > 0:01:20and there was a briefcase of £20 notes
0:01:20 > 0:01:24sitting on the table that nobody else could be bothered to take.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26The business is booming.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30Britain has by far the biggest self-storage industry in Europe.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32Should we be worried?
0:01:32 > 0:01:36The fact that we have such a large self-storage industry
0:01:36 > 0:01:41in this country is a sign that we are a sick society.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55MUSIC: "Star Wars (Main Theme)"
0:02:11 > 0:02:13Space.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16For Dave Bailey, it's an epic battle.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22The loft is bulging. The shed's bulging.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24The summerhouse was bulging.
0:02:24 > 0:02:31Three kids, two adults, two dogs, and then the best part of 20 statues.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33There's no room for the humans.
0:02:39 > 0:02:40Something's got to go.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45And the kids wouldn't leave, so I had to move it into storage.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55With a collection of dozens of life-size Star Wars figures
0:02:55 > 0:02:58and a host of other sci-fi paraphernalia,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Dave has found self-storage essential
0:03:00 > 0:03:02to the pursuit of his passion.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04It is a labour of love.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07It's taken a lot of time to get it all together,
0:03:07 > 0:03:11and fortunately places like this exist
0:03:11 > 0:03:13otherwise I'd have nowhere to store it,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15and I wouldn't be able to collect.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18How much are you paying each month, do you reckon?
0:03:22 > 0:03:23Right.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25That's a question.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27I don't know off the top of my head,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30because I've been here so long, it just happens.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34Um...
0:03:34 > 0:03:37But it's in excess of £400 a month.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Probably most people think I'm barmy...
0:03:45 > 0:03:47but it's that or it goes.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49If I sold it...
0:03:49 > 0:03:52I don't know what I'd do with myself.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54I'd have a load of money, but I don't know.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Would it make me happy?
0:03:56 > 0:03:58Nah.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59No.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04Dave is one of Britain's most dedicated self-storage users.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07But most of us aren't overrun with house guests
0:04:07 > 0:04:10from a galaxy far, far away.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15So why have so many of us become hooked on self-storage?
0:04:25 > 0:04:30Let's face the facts. We love buying things.
0:04:34 > 0:04:35In recent decades
0:04:35 > 0:04:40we have become voracious purchasers of mountains of stuff.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43We have got much more stuff on average than our parents did.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49We've got, by weight, about six times as much stuff.
0:04:49 > 0:04:55If you add up all our furniture, our clothes, our TVs, our possessions.
0:04:55 > 0:04:56It's a lot more.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04Every year we manage to buy £3 billion-worth of toys
0:05:04 > 0:05:06for our children.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Every year British people buy 7.5 million kettles.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15This enormous boom in shopping for stuff has been made possible
0:05:15 > 0:05:19because - since 1960 - household incomes have nearly tripled.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23At the same time,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27we have been deluged by a wave of cheap imports from around the world.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34The reason that we are acquiring more more quickly
0:05:34 > 0:05:36is that things are more affordable.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40Production costs are so much lower.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Globalisation has enabled organisations
0:05:43 > 0:05:47to adeptly globetrot in search of cheap labour costs.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51You can buy a pair of jeans for £3, a T-shirt for £1.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54How can it be - how has it come to pass
0:05:54 > 0:05:57that we can buy a T-shirt for £1?
0:06:01 > 0:06:02It's a conveyor belt.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Raw materials are being dug up from the earth,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08constructing things people think they need,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11and currently are sent in this particular direction.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16And in case our hunger for stuff ever diminishes,
0:06:16 > 0:06:20there's a whole industry persuading us to keep on buying.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23About 2% of our GDP is spent on advertising
0:06:23 > 0:06:26whereas the rest of Europe is about 1%.
0:06:26 > 0:06:27This has an effect.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30Advertising works, it encourages us to buy things
0:06:30 > 0:06:32so we buy more than everybody else in Europe.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35We end up with more in our houses than everybody else in Europe
0:06:35 > 0:06:39and we end up storing more than everybody else in Europe.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43With six times more stuff than the generation before us,
0:06:43 > 0:06:48and only so much space, sooner or later, something has got to give.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Welcome to the world of self-storage.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Our problem isn't just that we buy too much stuff.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08It's worse than that.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13It seems that once we've got stuff, we are determined to hang onto it.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18And this is where it often ends up.
0:07:20 > 0:07:2215 square foot room.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25- Wow, yeah.- Small, isn't it?
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Yeah, but is it in the catchment area of any good schools?
0:07:27 > 0:07:28HE LAUGHS
0:07:30 > 0:07:35A 15 square foot unit like this costs around £80 per month.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38- All right?- Yeah, that sounds great. - Very good.
0:07:38 > 0:07:39Shut door.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Today, British people spend nearly half a billion pounds a year
0:07:46 > 0:07:49renting empty space like this.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55Yeah, there's one room right down the end that we can have a look at.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01As manager of a 1,200-room Big Yellow store in South London,
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Gemma Szpala has come to suspect that there are powerful emotions
0:08:05 > 0:08:08bubbling beneath the surface of the storage boom.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13People find it really hard to get rid of stuff,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16so they think, "Out of sight, out of mind,"
0:08:16 > 0:08:17but they still have it.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20I think there's a lot more hoarders in life than we actually think.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23I suppose people think, "That might be worth something in the future.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26"Not now, but in the future it might be an antique."
0:08:26 > 0:08:28So people just want to hold on to stuff.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33The myth which is perpetuated is that we live in this throw-away society -
0:08:33 > 0:08:35I just don't buy that argument.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39I think we have really important relationships to our objects.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42They are meaningful. They're the ways that we narrate our lives,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44and our life stories.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48It's this all too human tendency towards hoarding
0:08:48 > 0:08:52that means the UK now boasts as many self-storage sites
0:08:52 > 0:08:53as branches of McDonald's.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Bob Stansfield, helped by his friend Charlie,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02is just getting started in storage.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05He's planning to use it as a stopgap measure
0:09:05 > 0:09:07in between house moves,
0:09:07 > 0:09:10and he's prepared to fork out £300
0:09:10 > 0:09:14rather than reduce his mountain of treasured belongings.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16This stuff is my memory box essentially,
0:09:16 > 0:09:18of just little bits and pieces.
0:09:18 > 0:09:24I haven't got room or time or space, for all this rubbish.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28Hang on - whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you calling this rubbish?
0:09:28 > 0:09:30The thing is it all has sentimental value.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32It's cars that I've previously owned and I've kept bits off,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35the surfboards I had when I was travelling round Australia,
0:09:35 > 0:09:36the skateboards when I was a kid.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39You can't throw it. It'd break my heart, you know?
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Didgeridoos.
0:09:44 > 0:09:45You can't throw away a didgeridoo.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47It's not good karma, man.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50Bob's encounter with storage is intended to be a brief one.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54But all too often, that can turn into a long-term commitment.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Judy Emms first began to use Safestore in West London
0:09:57 > 0:09:59when she moved to a smaller house.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Now she is one of the estimated 40% of customers
0:10:04 > 0:10:08who have kept their belongings in for more than three years.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12These would have been in our garage, for instance.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14This has become our garage.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16Our garage.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21We've got bits and bobs of stuff that I can't get rid of yet.
0:10:23 > 0:10:24Check that out.
0:10:24 > 0:10:30My husband got that from a Soviet soldier in East Berlin.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35And I showed my husband and I said, "Can you say goodbye to this yet?"
0:10:35 > 0:10:38He said, "Oh, no, I can't say goodbye to that! That's special."
0:10:38 > 0:10:40And it is pretty special, actually.
0:10:49 > 0:10:50Just down the corridor,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53Seymour Popek is desperately struggling
0:10:53 > 0:10:57to bring his £109-pound a month storage habit to an end.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02My wife has decided it's time to save money and get rid of it.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Two bags like that, old science fiction books.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11I've collected those since childhood.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13And I've got a couple of hundred
0:11:13 > 0:11:17which I haven't got any room on my book shelves for any more.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19But it's still hard to get rid of stuff.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21They become part of you in some ways, don't they?
0:11:21 > 0:11:23They become part of you.
0:11:23 > 0:11:24It's a way of putting it away
0:11:24 > 0:11:28and closing the door and saying, "I'll get back to that."
0:11:28 > 0:11:30And you don't.
0:11:30 > 0:11:31I'm being honest. You don't.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34But often you do, but you've got to be in the mood.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Unless you're forced to by circumstances like, er...
0:11:38 > 0:11:39you're dead.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47The vast majority of stuff that we store in self-storage places
0:11:47 > 0:11:50we do not need - we should either sell it or throw it away.
0:11:50 > 0:11:51We're bonkers.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54We're not idiots - I don't think we're idiots.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57I think consumers get a bad rap, actually.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59We're not idiots to hold on to these things,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01it's just really quite practically difficult
0:12:01 > 0:12:03to know what to do with them.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11So how did we end up like this?
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Just three decades ago,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16the British self-storage industry didn't even exist.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20To see how it evolved,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24we have to travel to the home of stuff - America.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38In the 1960s, Mad Men ruled America.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42They sold dreams to a newly wealthy population.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Stuff was crowding out American homes.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53Soon a nation was drowning in its own belongings.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55It's not in the least bit surprising
0:12:55 > 0:12:58that the whole trend towards storage started in America,
0:12:58 > 0:13:03the first country to have vast quantities of stuff they didn't need
0:13:03 > 0:13:05but define themselves through these possessions
0:13:05 > 0:13:08so they needed storage space, and they started it.
0:13:10 > 0:13:11And it started here,
0:13:11 > 0:13:13in Odessa, Texas.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20It was in this quiet backwater
0:13:20 > 0:13:23that the global fight-back against the invasion of stuff began.
0:13:26 > 0:13:32Its leaders were Russ Williams and Bob Munn.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37In 1964 they opened A1 U-Store It, U-Lock It, U-Carry the key.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Odessa is an oil town,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44and Russ and Bob thought oil workers would use their facility
0:13:44 > 0:13:48to store their tools during seasonal downtime.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51They were surprised when instead of wrenches and pipe grips,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55their first customers showed up with sofas and toasters.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58The self-storage story had begun.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10But when baby boomers in the UK
0:14:10 > 0:14:13started to share the American trouble with excess belongings,
0:14:13 > 0:14:17we made do with a distinctly British solution.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19MUSIC: "The Sweeney Theme"
0:14:26 > 0:14:27How much?
0:14:27 > 0:14:3027 grand, I make it.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32I make it beautiful.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36In 1970s Britain, those of us with a surplus of stuff
0:14:36 > 0:14:41were forced to venture into the seedy underworld of the lock up.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Today, one man dominates the private garage business,
0:14:46 > 0:14:51owning a portfolio worth £100 million.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53His name is Rodger Dudding,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56but to his many clients he's known as Mr Lock Up.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04In the early '70s, Rodger was already a pioneering entrepreneur,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07having successfully introduced ticketed queuing systems
0:15:07 > 0:15:09to the nation's delicatessen counters.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13But he was hungry for more.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22His next move would make him the first member of an unlikely club -
0:15:22 > 0:15:24the storage millionaires.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Reasoning that people would always need places to store their cars,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32he set about building his vast empire of lock up garages.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34Always one of the fun things is to find them,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36to winkle-pick them out,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39to find these garages hiding behind blocks of flats,
0:15:39 > 0:15:40which a lot of people don't realise
0:15:40 > 0:15:43that they are living there, as it were.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47My policy was to drive up and down streets,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49see if I could find any garages there,
0:15:49 > 0:15:52then try to find out who the landlord was
0:15:52 > 0:15:57and then make him an offer he couldn't refuse to buy from him.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Rodger's offers were SO hard to refuse
0:16:01 > 0:16:05that he bought over 12,000 garages.
0:16:05 > 0:16:06Most were used for cars,
0:16:06 > 0:16:10but one day he noticed a puzzling new development.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14Well, here you'll find a typical example of a lock up garage
0:16:14 > 0:16:19which is no longer used for parking a car,
0:16:19 > 0:16:21but is the ideal self-storage unit.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27The change probably started to move around about the 1970s.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Typically, if you take a car from the mid-'60s backwards,
0:16:31 > 0:16:33then unless those cars were garaged
0:16:33 > 0:16:35or had a tarpaulin put over them at night,
0:16:35 > 0:16:39damp wouldn't allow you to start the car very easily in the morning.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41ENGINE STRUGGLES
0:16:41 > 0:16:44But with the improvement of the technology in motor vehicles,
0:16:44 > 0:16:46vehicles can stand outside in the open -
0:16:46 > 0:16:49therefore garages stopped being such a necessity,
0:16:49 > 0:16:54therefore what's an alternative use is use it for self-storage
0:16:54 > 0:16:56of that widely used term, "stuff".
0:16:58 > 0:17:02But Rodger's lock ups have played host to activities
0:17:02 > 0:17:04far more exotic than hoarding.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10We've just about, I think,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14found everything in our career with lock up garages,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18from the very sweet and very useful afternoon nookie shops...
0:17:18 > 0:17:21WOMAN MOANS
0:17:21 > 0:17:23..as they are discreet,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27and much larger than a caravan and more stable,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30and they can be decorated out, which they often are.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32WOMAN SCREAMS
0:17:32 > 0:17:34We've had several bodies, murders,
0:17:34 > 0:17:39as they're an ideal dumping ground if you want to dispose of a body.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41But the ideal place to dispose of a body
0:17:41 > 0:17:46might not be the best resting place for our domestic knick-knacks.
0:17:47 > 0:17:53For many, the lock up was just too scary to solve our storage needs.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55But help was at hand,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58and it came from a Briton on holiday in America.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Los Angeles, 1977.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20A British businessman named Doug Hampson
0:18:20 > 0:18:22was taking in the sights and sounds of California
0:18:22 > 0:18:27when he saw something that set his heart racing.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32One day I was driving down a road called La Cienega
0:18:32 > 0:18:35and I suddenly saw a building that said public storage
0:18:35 > 0:18:38and appeared to be rows of lock up garages
0:18:38 > 0:18:41surrounding an old warehouse building.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45And I thought, "I don't know what this is, but it looks interesting.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47"I'm going to stop and check it out."
0:18:47 > 0:18:50Doug had stumbled upon an outpost
0:18:50 > 0:18:53of the flourishing American self-storage industry.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57For an ambitious young entrepreneur,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01it was hard to imagine a more perfect business to get into.
0:19:01 > 0:19:02It was very basic.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05Nobody lived in them, there was no plumbing,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08and what you had to do to keep your customers completely satisfied
0:19:08 > 0:19:10was very little.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12And I thought, "This is a pretty good idea."
0:19:20 > 0:19:22When he returned home,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Doug Hampson and his wife wrote the first chapter
0:19:25 > 0:19:28in Britain's proud self-storage history.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30The year was 1979.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34The place was a quiet street in Central London.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38This building here, we rented it from the London Electricity Board
0:19:38 > 0:19:41and it had been disused for a number of years.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45It was green with mould on the outside and even greener inside.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51The rent Doug paid for the space was 60 pence per square foot,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54but he found he could charge his customers
0:19:54 > 0:19:58up to ten times that amount - and they were happy to pay.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01They just said, "You know, this is fabulous, it solves my problem,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04"I've been looking for this for years. Thank you very much."
0:20:04 > 0:20:06The only thing that seems to be missing
0:20:06 > 0:20:10on my visit to the storage centre today is a blue plaque
0:20:10 > 0:20:13telling people that this, in 1979,
0:20:13 > 0:20:15was the start of self-storage in Europe.
0:20:17 > 0:20:22Doug Hampson's gift to Britain was a new place to store our stuff.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24His gift to British entrepreneurs
0:20:24 > 0:20:27was an ingenious way of making pots of money
0:20:27 > 0:20:30from some very unpromising ingredients.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40The self-storage business was a sort of alchemy.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43The raw materials were the disused factories
0:20:43 > 0:20:47and abandoned warehouses that littered '90s Britain.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52For the first generation of self-storage entrepreneurs,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55these remnants of our industrial past
0:20:55 > 0:20:58were the perfect homes for our domestic clutter.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02When we used to make stuff for the rest of the world
0:21:02 > 0:21:06we needed mills to make it in, which are big empty buildings,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09and we needed the warehouses to store it in.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12And now we're not making hardly anything for the rest of the world,
0:21:12 > 0:21:13we still have the spaces.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15And spaces can store the stuff that we're buying in
0:21:15 > 0:21:16from the rest of the world.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20So, we've replaced manufacturing with buying junk
0:21:20 > 0:21:21and then we stored the junk
0:21:21 > 0:21:24in the buildings where we used to manufacture.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29One of the early masters of this art was Andrew Jacobs,
0:21:29 > 0:21:31founder of the Lok'nStore empire
0:21:31 > 0:21:35that stretches from Eastbourne to Northampton.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37Today they are building a brand-new store in Maidenhead.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41But the company didn't start in bespoke buildings.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44Some of our early stores were a parachute factory,
0:21:44 > 0:21:46we got an air conditioning factory,
0:21:46 > 0:21:48we got a furniture factory...
0:21:48 > 0:21:52So, the business at that time was really about -
0:21:52 > 0:21:56take these old buildings and, for us, paint them orange.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Put some units in and get some income out of them
0:21:58 > 0:22:00where nobody else could really see
0:22:00 > 0:22:02how to get an income out of that property.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07The new self-storage industry cleverly exploited
0:22:07 > 0:22:09the intricacies of the planning system.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15The price of land depends on what planners say it can be used for.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18The most expensive, especially in the south-east of Britain,
0:22:18 > 0:22:20is residential land.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Land for retail generally costs less.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31And land for industrial warehouses is cheaper still -
0:22:31 > 0:22:33around half the price of retail.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38What the self-storage pioneers did
0:22:38 > 0:22:41was take the cheap land designated for warehouses,
0:22:41 > 0:22:44but use it to generate the healthy income
0:22:44 > 0:22:46you'd expect from a retail site.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52One of those who achieved this feat
0:22:52 > 0:22:54was opera singer turned entrepreneur Susie Fabre,
0:22:54 > 0:22:58the owner of the A&A Self-Storage chain.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04What you'll find is we picked up buildings that people didn't want,
0:23:04 > 0:23:10had no use for, and the object of the game was to turn the building around
0:23:10 > 0:23:11and get a good rental income.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18But first, the would-be self-storage boss faces a problem.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22Unlike in retail, opening day is a bit of a damp squib.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26When you open up a self-storage facility,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30you are making zero on day one.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34From the moment you open those doors you've got an empty building
0:23:34 > 0:23:38and you've got to get, you know, bums on seats, effectively.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Till you hit about 70%, and then you feel, "OK, I can relax now!"
0:23:46 > 0:23:49To get new stores to that happy state as fast as possible,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53the self-storage bosses have a secret weapon.
0:23:53 > 0:23:58We do introductory discounts at most of our stores.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01It's usually four weeks free.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04The reason is because most of our customers
0:24:04 > 0:24:08believe they're going to stay a relatively short period
0:24:08 > 0:24:10and underestimate how long they're going to stay.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Once your customers have come in and stored their stuff
0:24:15 > 0:24:19they have to act to stop doing business with you,
0:24:19 > 0:24:25so the inertia is all in the right direction.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27Do you think sometimes when people are in, they...
0:24:27 > 0:24:29they forget they're in?
0:24:29 > 0:24:31Ooh!
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Do I? Well, yeah, I think they do forget they're in,
0:24:34 > 0:24:35I hope they forget they're in.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41And as they sit back and collect their rent,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44the bosses don't have to pay too much out.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46The buildings aren't heated, they're rarely lit
0:24:46 > 0:24:49and they're not exactly overrun with people.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52One of the attractions of the business
0:24:52 > 0:24:54is we have very low staffing levels,
0:24:54 > 0:24:56so we'll have a big store like this
0:24:56 > 0:25:00that's providing 60,000 square feet of storage space
0:25:00 > 0:25:04and it will have three or four members of staff only.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07So, you know, across our whole business
0:25:07 > 0:25:10we only have 130 staff.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13It's quite hard to make a mess of this business!
0:25:14 > 0:25:18Three, two, one...
0:25:18 > 0:25:20THEY CHEER
0:25:22 > 0:25:27Today the Lok'nStore team are opening their 24th site.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29But just half an hour's drive away,
0:25:29 > 0:25:32their arch rival is also building a brand-new store.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40In 1999, a new company burst on the scene.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42Its lavish marketing campaigns
0:25:42 > 0:25:45cleverly played on all our worst fears
0:25:45 > 0:25:48about the tidal wave of stuff engulfing our homes.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51As your life changes,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55keep hold of the things you love with Big Yellow.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Despite getting started five years after Lok'nStore,
0:26:04 > 0:26:09today Big Yellow has almost three times as many stores.
0:26:09 > 0:26:10This will be the 67th.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13And like most of them, it will be enormous.
0:26:21 > 0:26:22Before they got started,
0:26:22 > 0:26:26self-storage sites on average were a modest 30,000 square feet.
0:26:27 > 0:26:33Big Yellow doubled that, building 60,000 square foot monsters.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35In order to build these gargantuan stores
0:26:35 > 0:26:40they needed one vital ingredient - huge amounts of cash.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45Something the earlier self-storage pioneers found hard to get hold of.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50My now business partner Simon and I went round the City,
0:26:50 > 0:26:54we tried to raise some capital we couldn't get any traction at all,
0:26:54 > 0:26:56so people in the City and people in the property industry
0:26:56 > 0:26:58really looked down on it
0:26:58 > 0:27:01and thought it was a sort of lesser business, somehow.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03Storage, you know...
0:27:03 > 0:27:05it's not shopping centres,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08it's not, you know, it's not hotels.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10It's not fashion.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13It doesn't seem, on the face of it, to be the sexiest of products.
0:27:15 > 0:27:16But deep down,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20the founders of Big Yellow knew that storage could be sexy.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Well - at least eye-catching.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28With friends in the city, they were able to raise £75 million.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32Not for this company the disused factories and warehouses.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36They would construct gleaming new temples of stuff
0:27:36 > 0:27:38in prime ring road locations.
0:27:38 > 0:27:4140% of our customers are women,
0:27:41 > 0:27:45and they don't want to be going to old warehouses
0:27:45 > 0:27:47on the back of industrial estates.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51The name and the colour scheme were designed to stick out.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54The point about having main road buildings
0:27:54 > 0:28:00is that it reinforces your brand 24 hours a day - as those cars go past,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03people are seeing it. So when they then go on the internet
0:28:03 > 0:28:05and they see you at the top of the free listings,
0:28:05 > 0:28:09they see you second or third or first in the paid listings,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11they recognise the brand and they click on it.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16All the other self-storage companies did the same,
0:28:16 > 0:28:22and soon our A-roads were dominated by massive garish sheds.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27And the more people noticed them, the more they used them.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35There's a stretch of road that we would travel along quite a lot,
0:28:35 > 0:28:37and it just sort of screamed at you, "self-storage",
0:28:37 > 0:28:42and it sort of, just... it fixed a problem.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46The new self-storage industry was like manna from heaven
0:28:46 > 0:28:48for one family in particular.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Dave and Alison Bailey now live a blissfully uncluttered life,
0:28:53 > 0:28:56but five years ago things were very different.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00- We had Princess Leia in the lounge. - Yeah.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03We had Darth Vader in the hall.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06- We had Kung Fu Panda. - Kung Fu Panda in the back garden.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09Yeah. They were everywhere.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12But self-storage changed everything.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15It has been a...I wouldn't say it's a godsend, but it is.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18You know, it really did help us out.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21Because it is something he's passionate about.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25How much does it cost overall?
0:29:25 > 0:29:27Wow!
0:29:27 > 0:29:30I wouldn't like to put a price on it.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32I don't think about it, to be honest.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36I always look very pale in the summer,
0:29:36 > 0:29:38cos I've not had a holiday.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44For Dave, the tensions between his intergalactic family
0:29:44 > 0:29:47and his real one are coming to a head.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49It's a luxury, and it's also an overhead.
0:29:49 > 0:29:55And without that overhead, Alison can go on holiday.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57We can have a nice car...
0:29:57 > 0:29:58So if I can find another way of storing it
0:29:58 > 0:30:01that doesn't cost me X amount of money each month
0:30:01 > 0:30:03then that's what I'll have to do.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12Thanks to customers like Dave,
0:30:12 > 0:30:18the growth of self-storage in the 2000s was unstoppable.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21During the decade, the area of storage space for hire
0:30:21 > 0:30:27increased sevenfold, to a whopping 30 million square feet.
0:30:29 > 0:30:35Between 2000 and, sort of, 2006/7, you know, you could build them
0:30:35 > 0:30:39and these things filled up like clockwork.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43And it felt like every time we opened a new storage centre,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46we were instantly making money.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50So we were trying to gather together as much money as possible
0:30:50 > 0:30:53to open as many storage centres as possible.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58What was driving this enormous boom?
0:30:58 > 0:31:02In part, of course, we simply had more stuff that we wanted to keep.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07But many of us also found ourselves with less space to put it in.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12Like the Ward family of South West London.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15This is the living room, so, erm...
0:31:15 > 0:31:17with the dining table and the sofa.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22And then this is my small but practical kitchen.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24But the master bedroom is the kids' bedroom,
0:31:24 > 0:31:26because they need more space than me.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30Bathroom under my hanging laundry.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34This is my and my husband's room, yeah.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37There is always something that gets over-cluttered,
0:31:37 > 0:31:38like these shelves.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43We are four people living here, two adults and two children.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47It's around 55/56 square metres.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50And that's it, and no other storage whatsoever.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54Before marrying her Scottish husband, Tone Ward lived in Norway.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57When his job meant the family had to move to London,
0:31:57 > 0:31:59Tone got a bit of a shock.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03Norway is such a large country with hardly five million people,
0:32:03 > 0:32:05so everybody has so much space there.
0:32:07 > 0:32:12This flat in Norway would be a flat for a single person.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14But they will have more storage.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17They would have had some storage in the basement and loft.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19We can't afford to move bigger.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22To upgrade from this flat to something bigger
0:32:22 > 0:32:26is not just the double it's the triple of the value of this flat.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34Tone's story is typical.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39Wherever we come from, increasingly if we want a job,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42we have to head to London.
0:32:42 > 0:32:43In the last five years,
0:32:43 > 0:32:4780% of all new private sector jobs created nationally
0:32:47 > 0:32:49were created in the capital.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53In this crush, self-storage has thrived.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00You're getting rates of overcrowding rising in London.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02They have been rising now for 20 years.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Most of the population have seen themselves squeezed,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09and the poorest people are seeing themselves really, really squeezed.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12You're going to run out of space for stuff.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19And with ever-rising house prices putting bigger homes out of reach,
0:33:19 > 0:33:23growing families overflow into their storage space.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26They're growing into their attics, they're growing into the spare rooms,
0:33:26 > 0:33:30they're growing into the garages, having them converted.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32When I was a child everything was in the attic,
0:33:32 > 0:33:34all the junk and, and what have you,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37and now it's moved into a self-storage unit.
0:33:37 > 0:33:43As a result, a third of all UK self-storage is within the M25.
0:33:44 > 0:33:49But it's not just a shortage of space that's fed its growth.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52London is the chief city of an increasingly transient country.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55People in the past
0:33:55 > 0:34:00were more likely to end up sitting somewhere for, say, 25 or 30 years.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03When they got the family home, they stayed in the family home
0:34:03 > 0:34:05and they stayed in it after the kids had gone.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07In the last ten years there's been this huge increase
0:34:07 > 0:34:09in private renting.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12In London the average time people spend in a private rented house
0:34:12 > 0:34:15is a year, and that creates problems
0:34:15 > 0:34:18about what people are going to do with their stuff.
0:34:24 > 0:34:29To make matters even worse, just as our housing woes were peaking,
0:34:29 > 0:34:33a trend for pared-back living and clean lines swept the land.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39The pressures of interior design
0:34:39 > 0:34:43are a set of pressures which have partly come through the media,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46partly through kind of interior design programmes,
0:34:46 > 0:34:51partly through offerings like Habitat and IKEA and so on,
0:34:51 > 0:34:55to live this kind of minimalist, decluttered lifestyle
0:34:55 > 0:34:58which is open to the view of others,
0:34:58 > 0:35:04which reveals us to be orderly, ordered rational citizens
0:35:04 > 0:35:08with immaculate taste, surrounded by beautiful things.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11The reality of that, of course, is that behind the scenes
0:35:11 > 0:35:13the situation is altogether different.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21Under here I have my printer.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23And under this chair I have my sewing machine.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30And under here I have the school clothes for my two children.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Erik, my youngest son, is also active in golf.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37I tried to squeeze them into the corner.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40My husband have a luxury.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43He have a double wardrobe by himself.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46This is the second wardrobe and that is what I have for space,
0:35:46 > 0:35:48and that is what me and Mia sharing.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52They have individual boxes where
0:35:52 > 0:35:54they're allowed to keep things and the toy they collect.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56I really need to be strict on toys.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58I think that is the next thing to go.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05But despite fiendishly inventive storage and aggressive toy pruning,
0:36:05 > 0:36:10last year Tone admitted defeat and rented an extra 25 square foot.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19'I brought along some winter clothes that we need to store for next year.'
0:36:19 > 0:36:21Oh, the lift is here.
0:36:21 > 0:36:26'Because the things are too small, we give away to charity or friends.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29'And also I was packing some ski clothes I have washed.'
0:36:30 > 0:36:32Give me that one, Mia. Thank you.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36But some of the belongings stashed away in Tone's unit reveal
0:36:36 > 0:36:39that even the queen of decluttering isn't immune to getting
0:36:39 > 0:36:41sentimental about her stuff.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45CDs. I don't know why I am storing the CDs.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47I think it's old technology,
0:36:47 > 0:36:50but I'm not really ready to get rid of them yet.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52Let's see.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54Oh.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56Is there anything here I can find for me?
0:36:56 > 0:36:59Oh, yeah. Janet Jackson.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01SHE LAUGHS
0:37:01 > 0:37:03In the age of MP3s, there's no use in having these any more.
0:37:03 > 0:37:08It isn't. I have to say, we are using Spotify now and we have
0:37:08 > 0:37:12that on computer, we have it on the phones when you're out running.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15So, yeah, this is luxurious, isn't it?
0:37:15 > 0:37:18This isn't really need to be stored. You could get rid of it.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20So, yeah.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24- Do you think you will? - I don't know.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26Because of all these things.
0:37:26 > 0:37:27I think my husband equally, like me,
0:37:27 > 0:37:30can go through every single one of those ones.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34And you remember which friends you was with, what you did that time,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37and things like that. So it's almost like pictures, isn't it?
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Music and pictures is hard to get rid of.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46By 2010, self storage was so ubiquitous in America
0:37:46 > 0:37:50it had even spawned a smash hit TV show.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53TV NARRATOR: Get ready for this summer's biggest blockbuster.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59The format hinges on what happens when American self-storage
0:37:59 > 0:38:02customers fail to pay their bills.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06Their goods are auctioned off.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08Sold it right here - 200.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11This is great. There's the 200 I paid for the locker.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14For the buyers, the hope is that amid all the household junk
0:38:14 > 0:38:16will be a life-changing find.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20Hold the phone!
0:38:22 > 0:38:26Back in Britain, the process for dealing with defaulters is
0:38:26 > 0:38:27a touch more restrained.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32For Frederic de Ryckman de Betz, owner of Attic Self-Storage,
0:38:32 > 0:38:34today is clearout day.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40The laws here are different to America's
0:38:40 > 0:38:42and there is no public auction.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47Even so, staff are keeping an eye out for items of value.
0:38:51 > 0:38:57OK, breaking into unit 2072. The time is now 3:17.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03'Now, in this situation, you have a customer that has not paid
0:39:03 > 0:39:07'their rent for a period of time, and we can no longer get hold of them.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12'And we need to empty the unit so we can rent it out to somebody else.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14'The store manager will take a decision on
0:39:14 > 0:39:17'whether these items can be sold on to try and reduce the debt.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19'And if they can't be sold on,
0:39:19 > 0:39:21'they'll either be given away to a charity shop,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25'or we'll literally take them down the dump and get rid of them.'
0:39:25 > 0:39:29Magazines, books, books...
0:39:29 > 0:39:33We've got some tax returns here, payslips, things like that.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35It's not a pleasant process.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38You're going through the contents of their life.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42Invariably, it's not anything that means something to us.
0:39:42 > 0:39:43It's not items of value.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45It's all second-hand stuff,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48but it has sentimental value to the customer.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50These are just generic suits.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52No particular value.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56They can be sold and we can make some money on those.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Assortment of ties.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02The clearout is when the bonds between someone
0:40:02 > 0:40:05and their beloved stuff have to be forcibly broken.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08That's from Star Wars.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11McDonald's cup.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16This looks like somebody who has been collecting McDonald's toys
0:40:16 > 0:40:18for some reason. There's quite a lot of these.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21If there's quite a lot of these, then collectively they might
0:40:21 > 0:40:23be worth something. There might be someone out there who's
0:40:23 > 0:40:25interested and willing to pay something for them.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28It's very far removed from Storage Wars
0:40:28 > 0:40:29type of thing that we see on TV.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31We very rarely find any items of value.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34We never make our money back out of this process.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37It's purely a process to empty the unit to stop the debt
0:40:37 > 0:40:39accumulating for the client,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42and to make sure we can put the unit back into use for other clients.
0:40:44 > 0:40:45Jurassic Park box set.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51All too often, one man's treasure is another man's junk.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55From today's clearout, Fred recovered £300
0:40:55 > 0:40:57against a debt of £1,530.
0:40:59 > 0:41:00But in the last few years
0:41:00 > 0:41:05a new type of customer has been fuelling the self-storage boom...
0:41:05 > 0:41:08bringing with them stuff that might actually be worth selling.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13The British high street is on its knees.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17In 2012, 20 shops closed in our town centres every day.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25The new wave of online retailers don't need shop fronts.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31More and more often, when you order online, the budding entrepreneur
0:41:31 > 0:41:35at the other end is operating out of a self-storage unit.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42The Little Legs Children's Clothing company was founded in 2010
0:41:42 > 0:41:47by Helen Cockle and Helen Gilbert.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55Child-friendly, bright, interesting clothes that are just
0:41:55 > 0:41:56a little bit different.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00- Yeah, it's fun stuff.- It's just not high street stuff.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03So we're aiming to move things very much online,
0:42:03 > 0:42:04grow the online side of things.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07We're trying to become online experts at the moment.
0:42:08 > 0:42:10We obviously don't have any computer here.
0:42:10 > 0:42:11We do everything like that from home
0:42:11 > 0:42:15and then come down on a morning and get the orders packed up.
0:42:15 > 0:42:16I've always done self-storage.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19I don't have a house big enough to have a spare room,
0:42:19 > 0:42:21so it was the only solution.
0:42:21 > 0:42:22It works really well.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24It's bright, it's easy to use,
0:42:24 > 0:42:26it's perfect for what we need.
0:42:26 > 0:42:27Yeah, so it's great.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29Obviously we'd like a window, maybe a balcony.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33- THEY LAUGH - But, no, it's brilliant.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35It's like a second home.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40For all its shortcomings as a place to work,
0:42:40 > 0:42:45today 42% of all self-storage space is taken by businesses.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48They are more of a hive of activity than you'd imagine. When you walk past,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51you imagine it's people just putting in furniture in that they don't want and,
0:42:51 > 0:42:53actually, they're not at all.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55I think they're primarily little businesses,
0:42:55 > 0:42:58and there's always something going on and there's always deliveries.
0:42:58 > 0:42:59There's always all sorts happening.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03And I think they are breeding grounds for brand-new businesses.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13I started the business about ten years ago in my garage,
0:43:13 > 0:43:15and I found a gap in the market for tools
0:43:15 > 0:43:18and equipment for people to make chocolates at home.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22And we promoted that on the shopping channels and then from there
0:43:22 > 0:43:26people started asking me, "Well, do you sell to the trade?"
0:43:26 > 0:43:29And, essentially, the company grew from there.
0:43:30 > 0:43:35Michael Kamlish is the owner of the Home Chocolate Factory.
0:43:35 > 0:43:40With 14,000 customers and ten staff, it's no longer a start-up.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44But rather than get their own place, they work in a storage unit.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47In here is where we have the UK's
0:43:47 > 0:43:51biggest selection of chocolate moulds.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54I think we have something like 2,000 to 3,000 different designs
0:43:54 > 0:43:59of chocolate moulds. Even novelty products like this, for feet.
0:44:00 > 0:44:06And this one here, which is used for making chocolate fruit.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08We've got banana, strawberry, etc.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12Through to what we believe is the biggest Easter egg
0:44:12 > 0:44:14mould in the UK - this is 90cm high.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19This side is more for pastry.
0:44:21 > 0:44:27The storage units work as a showroom for customers, office and stockroom.
0:44:29 > 0:44:33And thrown in is the use of a forklift truck.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36I've moved from, you know, one unit to something like six or
0:44:36 > 0:44:39several units within this particular storage location.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44So, this one, we're about to move more products
0:44:44 > 0:44:46from other units into this one.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49So, we're just building on that. And then this one over here.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54In this type of business, sometimes we have a big delivery
0:44:54 > 0:44:57and we need space to store it, but only for a month.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01So we will add space, as and when we need it, or we will lose
0:45:01 > 0:45:03space, as and when we need it.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06If we were to buy a unit which was 10,000 or 20,000 square foot,
0:45:06 > 0:45:10it will either be always too big or too small for us.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12So here we always ensure that, you know,
0:45:12 > 0:45:14the storage fits our particular needs.
0:45:18 > 0:45:23The space used by businesses is increasing 10% a year.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27Most use it as a stockroom or temporary office.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30But, within reason, once you've rented the space,
0:45:30 > 0:45:32what you get up to in there is up to you.
0:45:40 > 0:45:45And some customers have pushed that that idea to its limits.
0:46:04 > 0:46:09Eager Kung Fu students from far and wide regularly make a pilgrimage
0:46:09 > 0:46:11to Safestore in Reading.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15The centuries-old art is passed on within the confines of what
0:46:15 > 0:46:19in self-storage speak is a standard quadruple garage unit.
0:46:19 > 0:46:24The class is led by Greek martial artist Loukas Kastrounis,
0:46:24 > 0:46:26who was trained by a master with links to Bruce Lee.
0:46:32 > 0:46:38We are not in the gym because gym has certain times to train.
0:46:38 > 0:46:39Unfortunately, with today's life,
0:46:39 > 0:46:45people working so hard and so unusual hours that's stopping individuals to
0:46:45 > 0:46:49do their hobby, their fun, because of other commitments.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52So here I'm open seven days a week,
0:46:52 > 0:46:56and those seven days a week you can come and train at any time you want,
0:46:56 > 0:46:58so that's why I'm here not in the gym. So, here...
0:46:58 > 0:47:00I don't know what he's going to do.
0:47:00 > 0:47:02Whatever Craig does...
0:47:03 > 0:47:05I have to be there on time.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08If I'm not on time, I wait for the ambulance.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10'We become a big family here.
0:47:10 > 0:47:11'This is my other family.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14'And when they come here, they find it's relaxing cos it's normal.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16'As you can see, the place is normal, yeah?
0:47:16 > 0:47:19'Nothing to make or intimidate you.'
0:47:19 > 0:47:22Some people, they told me before, it's quite interesting.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25They say, "It reminds me of the old boxing clubs."
0:47:25 > 0:47:27You know, the hidey one, you know.
0:47:46 > 0:47:52The finishing touches are being put to the Big Yellow in West London...
0:47:52 > 0:47:53but they've hit a problem.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58The glory days of self-storage tycoons having
0:47:58 > 0:48:01the pick of prospective sites are coming to a close,
0:48:01 > 0:48:04according to Big Yellow boss Jimmy Gibson.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08Getting hold of new sites now, particularly in the big cities,
0:48:08 > 0:48:10is extremely difficult because the ability
0:48:10 > 0:48:14to convert offices and brownfield land into residential,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18that's been made easier and that has increased competition for land.
0:48:21 > 0:48:26Having run out of land to build on, it's now much tougher to expand.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30And if that wasn't bad enough, they've got another headache.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37PRESENTER: Hello, we're LoveSpace.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39We're a storage company with a difference.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43We'll do the first test to make sure nothing is untoward.
0:48:44 > 0:48:49Young web-savvy upstarts are trying to muscle in on their territory.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53Site live some time between 12 and one, hopefully 12.
0:48:53 > 0:48:54One hopeful is LoveSpace.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58Today, overseen by managing director Steve Folwell,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00they are launching their new website.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04OK, so we're about half an hour from launch, everyone,
0:49:04 > 0:49:08so we need to be ready to go as soon as we do launch.
0:49:08 > 0:49:09So, Brett, what do you do?
0:49:09 > 0:49:11I'm just testing for the bugs that won't be there.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14LoveSpace is a storage by the box company,
0:49:14 > 0:49:16and that means that we go to people's doors, we pick stuff up
0:49:16 > 0:49:20that they want to store for as long as they want to store it for.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23And we take it to our warehouse, where we look after it for them,
0:49:23 > 0:49:24until they want it back,
0:49:24 > 0:49:27and then we deliver it the very next day to them.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30Armed with this simple idea, the start-up team believe
0:49:30 > 0:49:34they have a crucial advantage over the established players.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36One of the big challenges that traditional self-storage
0:49:36 > 0:49:38have that we don't have is that they're
0:49:38 > 0:49:40restricted by the locations that they can use.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43They need to be at the edge of town, on busy roads that people
0:49:43 > 0:49:44drive past the whole time,
0:49:44 > 0:49:48and those sites are becoming much more difficult to find.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50We have one big warehouse.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Because we go and collect from people's doors and transport their
0:49:53 > 0:49:57things to our secure warehouse, it can be anywhere in the UK.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00It means we pay lower rents, and we can also increase
0:50:00 > 0:50:04the amount of capacity we have without really any restrictions.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07- Right.- We're live. - We're live. Come and have a look.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09Here it is.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13- Fabulous.- Well done, gang.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16Well done. Well done.
0:50:16 > 0:50:21But self-storage's old guard aren't ready to roll over and die.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23Some of these ideas where you set up a website
0:50:23 > 0:50:25and, you know, you send boxes and stuff,
0:50:25 > 0:50:28it's removals and storage...but in archive boxes.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30And, actually, the bit it misses
0:50:30 > 0:50:35is the most convenient thing that people want is the privacy,
0:50:35 > 0:50:38the security and the access local to where they need it.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41So it's complementary, but it's by no means a threat.
0:50:41 > 0:50:46I don't think people would perceive us as a threat yet to traditional
0:50:46 > 0:50:48self-storage. But then again, I don't think
0:50:48 > 0:50:52that necessarily HMV thought that iTunes was a threat
0:50:52 > 0:50:55when it started, or Waterstone's, Amazon.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58But it doesn't look like traditional self-storage will be going
0:50:58 > 0:51:01the way of HMV quite yet.
0:51:01 > 0:51:06It turns out that LoveSpace has a significant self-storage
0:51:06 > 0:51:07habit of its own.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10We do currently use self-storage.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14We use very big rooms, so 1,000 square foot rooms.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16It's a short-term solution for us,
0:51:16 > 0:51:19using other people's self-storage. In the long term,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23we're looking at our own warehouse capacity across the country.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27So for the time being, as a new industry,
0:51:27 > 0:51:30you are dependent on the old one a little.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33We use the old one. We're not dependent on it in any way,
0:51:33 > 0:51:35no more than a baker is dependent
0:51:35 > 0:51:37on a particular brand of butter, I guess.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48Ben Rogers and Shaff Prabatani have a competing vision for the
0:51:48 > 0:51:53future of storing stuff, one that doesn't need grand buildings at all.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57Their idea is a website called Storemates.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01What we're suggesting is that you don't need to build another
0:52:01 > 0:52:04tomb for unwanted possessions in these great big warehouses
0:52:04 > 0:52:06when someone just round the corner might have some
0:52:06 > 0:52:08space in their loft or in their spare room.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12If you've got space, you can go online and offer it up for a fee.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15For 15 square feet, it's usually around £40 a month.
0:52:15 > 0:52:20Storemates will take 15% of that to cover insurance and their cut.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25So what we do is match people who don't have enough space with
0:52:25 > 0:52:27people who have extra space.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30And people with the space can raise some money by renting it out
0:52:30 > 0:52:32to people who are short of space in London.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39Ben and Shaff want our stuff to return to its traditional home -
0:52:39 > 0:52:43the attic - albeit someone else's.
0:52:43 > 0:52:44Like Caroline's.
0:52:45 > 0:52:50I have an enormous loft and when my partner Steven was alive,
0:52:50 > 0:52:53he had lots and lots of newspapers up there.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57He was a hoarder, not an uncontrollable hoarder,
0:52:57 > 0:53:00but when he died I sent them all for recycling because they were
0:53:00 > 0:53:04of no value, and cleared the space, cleaned it up, and it was empty.
0:53:07 > 0:53:11I'm delighted because it's a little bit of pocket money for me,
0:53:11 > 0:53:16and it fits into my general philosophy of lack of wastage,
0:53:16 > 0:53:17make do and mend, reusing.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22Maybe it's something to do with being a war baby, you see.
0:53:22 > 0:53:23SHE LAUGHS
0:53:27 > 0:53:30So up here in my loft we have one batch of stuff,
0:53:30 > 0:53:32which belongs to Nick.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35There's another lot back there that also belongs to him -
0:53:35 > 0:53:37that's why he pays me twice.
0:53:37 > 0:53:42Julie's is there and Nicky is the black boxes under there.
0:53:43 > 0:53:48When people want to bring boxes, the only conditions I say are no drugs,
0:53:48 > 0:53:54no food, because I don't want rats up here, and certainly no firearms or
0:53:54 > 0:53:56anything dangerous or explosives.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59And they assure me that it's domestic things
0:53:59 > 0:54:02and perhaps collections of CDs and that kind of thing.
0:54:02 > 0:54:04I trust them and they have to trust me.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07I could go off with the lot down to the market and open a stall.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09I could take it all to a charity shop.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12I could help myself, but there's an element of trust
0:54:12 > 0:54:17and I like the two-way feeling of respect for their belongings.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21Are you ever tempted to peek inside their stuff?
0:54:21 > 0:54:22I have never looked inside the stuff.
0:54:22 > 0:54:24I've helped them bring it up,
0:54:24 > 0:54:28so I sometimes open boxes I've seen and I think,
0:54:28 > 0:54:32"Why does one want to keep that?" But that's their problem, not mine.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34Before the self-storage industry came about,
0:54:34 > 0:54:37people used to store with their parents, with their friends,
0:54:37 > 0:54:39and people they knew, people they trusted.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42Yeah, I suppose, in a way, it feels like people coming back to that
0:54:42 > 0:54:45and the internet enabling people to find each other and use their space
0:54:45 > 0:54:49and share things better. And it feels like it's a full circle, really.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56Another person who's bringing his stuff back home
0:54:56 > 0:54:58is Star Wars fan Dave Bailey.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03The end is in sight for his £400 a month habit.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05DOG BARKS Shush.
0:55:08 > 0:55:10This is my solution to storage.
0:55:10 > 0:55:15This is a shed that we've built, just so I can get some stuff
0:55:15 > 0:55:17out of storage, try and save on money, really.
0:55:17 > 0:55:23Not only that. If it's at the storage, you don't get to see it.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26Whereas, if it's here, if I woke up one morning
0:55:26 > 0:55:30and I want to play with a Dalek, I can go and play with a Dalek.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34Or if I want to come down and look at Princess Leia,
0:55:34 > 0:55:36I can come down and look at Princess Leia.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42That just sounded wrong, didn't it? THEY LAUGH
0:55:42 > 0:55:47Building this has cut my storage bill, probably, by about a quarter.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51On this back corner, the garden goes back further,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54so we're going to build another one there to hopefully bring over
0:55:54 > 0:55:57what's down in storage, Star Wars-wise.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00And then hopefully reduce it by another third.
0:56:00 > 0:56:02That's the plan, anyway.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08It has been three decades
0:56:08 > 0:56:13since the first self-storage site opened in Britain.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16The business is an emblem of our transition from a nation that
0:56:16 > 0:56:19makes things to one that buys things.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23But most of all, it's a story of how a very simple quirk of human
0:56:23 > 0:56:26nature - our desire to hold on to stuff -
0:56:26 > 0:56:32has spawned a fiendishly irresistible money-making machine.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36I'm paying for space...
0:56:36 > 0:56:39which, if you really think about it, is daft.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42Because I'm paying for nothing apart from four walls.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48It is money for old rope at the end of the day...really.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10The Open University delves further into what makes these
0:57:10 > 0:57:12businesses continue to boom.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15If you would like to discover more, go to bbc.co.uk/businessboomers
0:57:15 > 0:57:20and follow the links to the Open University, where you can
0:57:20 > 0:57:23also take part in our online survey about your storage habits.