Press release – Festive space a premium this year

Online retailers who keep their stock in storage facilities should book early before Christmas because space is filling fast.

That is the message from Store & Secure, which incubates businesses and is home to many online retailers across its three major facilities in Dorset and Hampshire.

Since the lockdowns, the number of retailers moving away from the high streets and markets has spiked.

Instead they have diversified into online sales, storing their stock in specialist locations – such as Store & Secure’s bases in Bournemouth and Poole in Dorset and Basingstoke in Hampshire.

Lucy and Sophie Maidman, the ‘storage sisters’ who run Store & Secure, said space for stock was quickly being snapped up.

Sophie said: “We only opened our huge new facility in Hamworthy in Poole this year but it’s been filling fast.

“Alongside the more traditional reasons for people using storage – such as house moves – more and more retailers are taking space.

“But I can foresee some not being able to find the units they need in the run-up to Christmas because they are being booked up.

“With our retail clients we take in stock for them during the day and they often pop in before their day job and on their way home from it.

“Therefore it is best that their retail storage space is close to where they live or work and that is why it is worth booking units now ahead of the Christmas rush.

“It really will be worth planning and not just trying to find somewhere at the end of November because there might be nothing suitable left.

“We have seen a number of businesses start in one of our units and grow out of it as they develop.

“Others use their online retail income as a top-up to their regular salaries. Either way a good unit for storage is important, especially in months and weeks leading up to Christmas.”