The average size of London commercial spaces average around 5,000 sq ft or 465 sq m. While it is sizable, it is usually not enough for a mid-sized company’s needs. For an office, space is valuable. Having a spacious work area helps with both productivity and creativity.
Instead of moving your business to a cheaper area or renting a more expensive property, you can look into a business storage unit. Uprooting your company to a different location can have serious consequences. Think about the work that goes into moving—looking for a suitable place, signing a contract without knowing if the location suits your needs, and hiring extra help to move all the office furniture and appliances.
If you have no problems with your current location, it is better to stay put. After all, decent living space is quite hard to find in London. Business storage offers a better alternative. Here are 10 reasons why your company should use business storage.
Across the Board
The main goal of every business is to minimise overhead costs while increasing profit margins. Business storage is an excellent alternative and solution for space in London.
Small Rental Space
Even if people are willing to pay for it, the reality is that London is pressed for space. One alternative to living in small spaces is to rent a separate storage space for your non-essentials. Having a storage unit provides companies to free up enough space in their office so they can move around freely.
Security
One important aspect to note is that you need to rent a self-storage unit that is known for having the world-class security measures employed to ensure that your items are well-protected. Henfield Storage, for instance, has 24/7 surveillance monitoring, fire and intruder alarms, and patrolling security personnel that guarantee that none of your confidential files and important business inventory meets an unfortunate fate.
Sky High Rates
With the high demand for commercial spaces, you have to deal with the competitive prices. Instead of getting a larger commercial space with significantly higher rent, it would be cheaper to get a storage unit instead. After all, increasing your overhead costs without increasing your sales could spell trouble for your organization.
Most storage facilities are located in easy to access areas, but by no means are in prime real estate. This means that it’s quite inexpensive as compared to renting a huge enough office to house all of your company stock and files.
Company Surplus
There is a lot of guesswork involved with ordering company inventory. Often, companies are left with a surplus. Instead of crowding the company storeroom with your excess surplus, you can send them to your storage unit. Only keep what you need so you don’t overcrowd your workspace.
Advertising and Marketing Materials
Advertising and marketing may have moved online, but printed flyers, merchandise, table booths, decorations, and other event-related items are still being used. These items have seasonal use but are vital in establishing a brand story and creating more sales. Keeping them inside your office will leave them exposed to damage and misuse. You can keep them in a storage unit instead.
Moving Between Rentals
Storage units are handy for businesses that are moving in between offices. It can act as a neutral ground where you can send your items while you are looking for a new space or you are in renovating limbo. It keeps all your company items in a clean, safe, and secure place.
Retail Stores
Let’s consider the role of business storage in retail stores. While you need to have stock on hand to seize every opportunity, crowding your store with inventory does not bode well for your customers’ shopping experience or your employees’ well-being.
Product Displays
Retail stores have to deal with incoming and outgoing stock regularly. If you have a lot of products, it might be better to allot more space for customer display. When it comes to shopping, most people enjoy browsing with ample space between one person and the next. Giving your customers enough space to amble around helps improve sales.
Dedicated Breakroom
Since you aren’t crowding stock into every nook and cranny, you can create a proper breakroom for your employees. Breakrooms, even a small one, can provide the much needed calm for customer service jobs. You can always keep a couple of boxes of inventory, but it shouldn’t be precariously stacked on top of each other. It can be a health and safety hazard for everyone.
Move the bulk of your inventory and unnecessary items to your storage unit, and fill the break room with only the essentials like tables, chairs, a microwave, water dispenser and a couch where your employees can take a break.
Office Spaces
Storage does not just help those with a lot of inventory and stock. Even in service-based industries and strictly office-based work, storage can play a role in increasing efficiency and productivity.
Separate Archives
Old physical copies of contracts are not necessary for everyday work. Most companies have digital copies that they can access better than the original pieces. If your company is still transitioning between traditional to digital formats, you can look into storage units for your archives.
You can move your bulky filing cabinets to the unit. It should be clean, dry, and secure enough. It might be better to keep it there in the long-run over squeezing it in the office space.
Back-Up Furniture and Appliances
Companies can also keep bulky items like old printers, copiers, computers, tables and chairs in the storage unit. While we replace these things for a reason, unexpected damages may require you to pull out the old stuff. Keeping the things that still work is a great back up plan that can help you adjust to any given situations
There are many reasons for renting both personal and business storage in city centres. If you have encountered the reasons listed above, it is high time you look into these units as a solution. Storage units are pretty versatile. They can be an excellent way for you to save on commercial space without affecting the business end too much.
