City life can sometimes feel like being crushed sardines in a tin box, where living and storage space is narrow and limited.
But this nuisance presents a business opportunity to offer space for storage and valuable assets, with around-the-clock security and easy transport access.
Storage space rental has been a business in the US for more than 60 years, for 20 and 10 years in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively.
For Thailand, it has been around less than a decade.
Pakdee Anivat, chief executive and founder of Storage Asia Co, sees growth opportunities in the segment.
With a business venture in mind, Mr Pakdee left his job at an IT data centre to establish Storage Asia, operating under the i-Store brand.
PREMIUM STORAGE
i-Store opened its first branch in Silom district a year ago, and launched a second branch in Sukhumvit Soi 24 four months ago.
The occupancy rate for rental storage space at the Silom branch is around 60% and 30% for the Sukhumvit Soi 24 branch.
In Hong Kong, where demand for rental storage is high, there are around 400 facilities for rental storage, with Singapore having around 100 facilities, said Mr Pakdee.
Thailand has about 15 facilities and 10 brands, mostly located in Bangkok, with one situated in Phuket and two facilities in Pattaya.
"We store every good except illegal items such as drugs, weapons and explosives," he said.
"Many people have brought items with sentimental value to them for personal storage, while others have brought luxurious assets such as sports cars to store for safety reasons as we have 16 closed-circuit cameras and 24-hour security guards in place."
Personal rental space makes up 60% of our offering, with the rest for online businesses and distributors, said Mr Pakdee. Foreigners make up 60% of the clientele, while 40% are Thais.
"i-Store is a premium storage service provider to keep possessions in Thailand. The convenience of customers is our focal point. i-Store is located in Bangkok's central business district [CBD], which is very convenient for transport," he said.
STORAGE TYPES
Pakdee Anivat, chief executive and founder of Storage Asia Co Ltd (no photo credit)
i-Store has services for four types of storage -- personal storage, business storage, wine storage and box storage.
Personal storage primarily serves clients who are undergoing property relocation or sales of houses or condos.
"If you wish to have more living space by rearranging things that you rarely use or you would like to move, you can keep some assets with us for the short or long term. Storage rooms have services from 0.5 square metres to 18 sq m, with rental spaces starting from 900-20,000 baht per month," said Mr Pakdee.
For business storage, the company's strength is its CBD location, which makes transporting items more convenient. Round-the-clock security also adds to the appeal for online and offline businesses to store products and deliver them to recipients from storage sites.
i-Store also has temperature-controlled rooms with standard humidity control systems for its wine storage.
For box storage, clients can register for an account and order a box. The company will then send blue plastic storage boxes and clients will pack items and upload photos to their accounts. A cable tie is also provided.
Clients can log into their accounts to book the return date when they need their items back.
SEEKING PARTNERS
Mr Pakdee said the company plans to add 3-4 branches per year and targets operating a total of 20 branches over the next five years.
Self-investment and franchising will be used for business growth, he said.
Storage Asia has paid-up capital of 51 million baht and the company plans to increase capital to 100 million by seeking new funding sources such as venture capital, angel funds, or private equity to join the project.
"If any venture capital firms see the potential growth of this business, we are open for negotiations," said Mr Pakdee.
Storage Asia is a startup listed on Live, a funding portal and securities trading platform for small businesses supervised by the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
The company also plans to list on the Market for Alternative Investment index in the next four years.
