Gone are the days when storage units were only used for their intended purpose – storing. In the UK, there are now as many self storage facilities as there are McDonald’s restaurants, meaning these facilities are becoming bigger, better and in higher demand. As houses are ‘shrinking’ in terms of square metre size and people tend to have more ‘stuff’ than ever before, branching out into a storage unit to fulfil a hobby, create a social space or even to start a business is becoming far more common.
In this post, we detail some of the alternative uses for a storage unit, as well as some real-life examples of some very peculiar uses indeed.
Very Unusual Recorded Uses for Self Storage Units
And now for some of the most weird and wonderful recorded uses of storage units across the globe…
A leg
Yes, you read that correctly. In 2007, a leg was found among some other storage contents at a self storage facility in North Carolina. It turns out, the original owner had to have the leg amputated, but had it put into storage so that he could later be buried with it. The contents of the storage unit were eventually auctioned off and the new owner found this very unwelcome surprise inside of a barbecue smoker. What makes this story even more bizarre, is that a legal battle between the new and original owner ensued over custody of the amputated leg, but it was eventually returned to its original (and rightful!) owner.
NASAs rocket
In 2010, an abandoned storage unit in South Florida was auctioned off on popular TV show, Auction Hunters, and the winning bidder landed upon a NASA rocket and countdown clock inside of the unit. This sort of equipment is very rarely found outside of NASA premises and shouldn’t find its way into the hands of none-NASA personnel, so it was a very fluke occurrence that this man came into possession of these finds!
MMA Fighting
In 2011, one family took their MMA gym out of a commercial gym space and into a storage unit in Reading to create a better fighting facility, complete with cage, sparring ring and training space, occupying over 880sq ft. They welcome over 300 students to their gym and provide classes every day.
An external living room
As houses are becoming smaller and buyers are downsizing to more affordable homes, one woman in the UK is famous for deciding to take her social life into her own hands and creating an external living room space to entertain friends over coffee and cake.
Alternative Uses for Self Storage Units
Recording / band practice studio
Not only can bands utilise storage space for keeping all of their equipment safely stored away, but they can also create their very own practice or recording space too. At Storage World, our units are housed internally, with access to power outlets and WiFi within your chosen unit, making it the ideal premises for affordable studio, storage and recording space all-in-one. By using a self storage unit, you can create an exclusive studio space that you can truly call your own and save a lot of money hiring out expensive, built-for-purpose studios by the hour.
Art studio / gallery
Take your painting, drawing, sculpting skills – or whatever artistic medium you specialise in outside of your home and into a storage unit. By using a self storage space as an art studio you can get away from the distractions that reside in your home, save money hiring expensive space by the hour and get as messy as you like in a space created for the purpose of creating. What’s more, once you’ve finished a masterpiece, you can tidy up your space, set the lighting just right, hang your works of art and display them in gallery fashion for all to see.
A gym
Escape the hustle and bustle that comes with holding a membership for a big-chain gym and create your own, with your favourite equipment, in a storage unit. Work out alone in the comfort of your own space at any time that suits you. By having your very own gym space, you’re not restricted to the level you can take your workout to, with no embarrassment from breaking a sweat in public, you can exert yourself to your limits and try out new workouts comfortably too.
Office space
Take your small business out of your home and into a designated space that will help you to grow and thrive, enabling you to better serve your customers or clients. Self storage is the perfect office space alternative, as it is far more affordable and facilities are usually in great city-based locations. At Storage World, our internally housed storage units are ideal for office space, coming in many different sizes and with access to WCs, kitchen facilities, 24-hour security surveillance, WiFi and of course, power outlets.
eBay / ecommerce shops
If you have a thriving online business and your home is slowly becoming overrun with stock, then a storage unit could be just the solution you need. Take the business away from your space that is supposed to be for downtime and create your very own warehouse to store all of your ecommerce or eBay shop stock. Your storage space can easily scale (both up and down) to cope with seasonality and changes in demand, so you never overpay for space. At Storage World, you only pay for the space you need and we can supply you with packaging materials to ensure you store your stock effectively, making the most of your overall storage space.
Here at Storage World, we’re more than happy to welcome (legitimate!) alternative uses for our storage units and will help you to get set up in the right-sized unit for your needs. There are no long term contracts involved, and you can upsize or downsize whenever you need to.
With 24 hour CCTV and security procedures in place, you can rest assured that running your business, enjoying a hobby or storing your valuable belongings with Storage World is safe and secure.
Give us a call at your nearest Storage World facility and we’ll be happy to give you our best price for your storage needs.
