Need More Space? Store Your Items Safely And Securely Inside This Brand New ‘SM’

Have you ever watched foreign reality TV shows like Storage Wars, where they auction off an entire store unit when the owner fails to pay their rent for more than three months? Well, that’s not what’s going to happen here. No one is going around auctioning off your items when you don’t want them to. In fact, you can rest easy that your items will be safe and secure inside this new “SM” facility that’s mushrooming around the metro.

This brand new “SM” we’re talking about comes directly from the family tree of SM magnate Henry Sy, and stands for StorageMart. StorageMart is a secure, storage facility with already three locations in the metro—one in Makati, in BGC, and most recently in Quezon City—and was founded by Sy’s grandson, Howards Sy.

 

 

Talking to ABS-CBN News, Howard says that he was inspired to start StorageMart by the show Storage Wars itself. And steadily, the brand has grown to become one of the most trustworthy and safe places to store personal and business belongings in the city.

 

 

Howard says he saw the need for space rentals, especially with the increase of high-rise residential spaces and start-ups. “I realized, since there's so many condos and there's no storage in the area, especially in Makati because Makati is so dense. I decided na that should be where my first location should be placed [sic] and we'll figure out from there.”

 

How it works

 

Basically, StorageMart rents out spaces and lockers of different sizes to suit your needs, from as small as 1-sqm lockers to huge 40-sqm units. Rates are flexible, from as short as a month to a year, with a 24/7 and 365-day access for renters.

For your peace of mind, they have top-of-the-line security systems in place, and even offer climate-controlled spaces for items that are sensitive to fluctuating temperatures.

On top of their for-rent spaces, they also offer packing supplies, moving services, and even insurance to make sure your items are safely stored and transferred.

 

 

Butch Tan, a retired corporate executive who now spends his time coaching younger executives and taking photographs wherever he goes, attests to the reliability of StorageMart. Butch says he heard about StorageMart from a friend of his sister when he needed to store “a gazillion balikbayan boxes quick. [We needed] to store my sister's stuff from the US—furniture, personal effects, abubots—while her condo was being built.”

When asked about his experience with the facility, it was interesting to hear the word “boring” used positively for the very first time.

“[It was] boring and predictable—which is excellent,” Butch says, noting that in this kind of business, the more froufrous and unnecessary stuff you include, the more it gets tedious for the customer. Keeping it simple and straightforward is the key. “I walked in, did not even mention my connection with the owners, was met by a young lady who presented terms very clearly, and that was that. When the deal was done (a year after he put in his things), I got to meet the owner, who it turns out is a young, fresh-out-of-college guy. Affable, accommodating. I did not visit the place ’til moving out day. Billing and payment were online.”

 

 

As an ex-corporate executive, surely, Butch had high and discerning expectations when it comes to keeping his things secure. But if Howard can impress a guy as discerning as Butch and deliver needs as simply as they did with his case, StorageMart indeed is on its way to success.