LoveSpace Launches 'Mail Storage' Self-Storage Service in the U.K.

A new U.K.-based self-storage service targeting couples who are downsizing, landlords and people between permanent homes is about to go national following a six-month pilot scheme. The LoveSpace "mail storage" concept is aimed at consumers who want to declutter but avoid the minimum costs associated with traditional self-storage.

The company sends customers boxes and packaging free of charge. The consumers pack and fill them in their own homes, and LoveSpace picks them up and transports them to its secure regional warehouse, also free of charge. Customers can store as little or as much as they wish since the space is measured by the box rather than storage area.

One of the key attractions is that customers do not have to make long-term commitments to pay for storage spaces that may be larger than needed. They only pay for the actual boxes they store rather than a whole storage room which may be only half full. In this way, customers can make substantial savings," Brett Akker, chairman of LoveSpace and co-founder of Streetcar car club, told the source.

Britain has more than 800 self-storage facilities. The Self Storage Association of the United Kingdom estimates the average length of stay is now 38 weeks, compared with 22 weeks in 2007. The association estimates that one in 100 U.K. households uses self-storage.

Among the LoveSpace board of directors is Phil Murphy, who operates Next Door Storage facilites in the United States and launched U.S. enterprise Storage By The Box, a very similar business to LoveSpace.