Thinking outside the box

When Queenie Fan planned to move out from her former apartment in November, she decided to put her furniture in self storage as she did her apartment hunting.

"They gave me a special discount for 4 sq m of storage space. At about 1,000 yuan ($160) per month, I think the price is acceptable," said Fan, 27, who is in the corporate banking business at a commercial bank in Shanghai.

She turned to Ministorage, which is a 30-minute drive from her home.

Self storage is a fairly affordable solution compared with renting a highly priced apartment in Shanghai, she said, adding that putting her things into storage also relieved a lot of the pressure to find an appropriate apartment.

"Compared with soaring housing prices, renting self-storage space is still quite reasonable. It is also impossible for me to leave all my furniture at a friend's place or somewhere else. It would be too much trouble. I'd rather pay for the convenience of self storage," she said.

Fan lived in Germany and Norway for about three years, where the self-storage industry is well established. "But they charge much more than the companies in China," she said.

Fan added the service quality was almost the same. Her only complaint is that self-storage locations in Shanghai are far from residential areas.

But Fan chose to use self storage since she had used it in Europe, and she recognized the Ministorage brand.

"I know there are several other self-storage companies in Shanghai, but I didn't bother with them. I chose the brand that I was more familiar with," Fan said.

She said that as far as she knows, most self-storage users are either foreigners or Chinese with overseas experience.

"My mom's generation will find it hard to accept. But younger people adapt more quickly. Anyway, new trends are usually started by such people, and I believe that Shanghai has the advantage in that regard," she said.