When you think of storage facilities, you probably imagine rows of pull up doors. And while that picture may be accurate, it’s far from complete. You see, the storage industry and its offerings are quickly evolving. Case in point:
1. High-end clothes. You’ve heard of wardrobes. How about garde-robes? “Garde” is a French root meaning “to keep” or “protect.” At our customer GardeRobe.com, you can hire a service to do that for your clothes: they’re like valets; they just take care of what you wear, rather than what you drive. Here’s how it works. So you want to store something. A Garde Robe rep comes to your house, packs it carefully up and takes it away. Your clothes spend their down-time in a climate-controlled setting. For really delicate items, there’s even a “museum-quality preservation” option. Whenever you want to look through your closet, you hop online and browse photos of your garments. When you want something back, it’s delivered to you, ready to wear.
2. Wine. Then there’s the fruit of the grape. Vinfolio.com will store your collection in its climate-controlled, earthquake-safe wine cellar in American Canyon, California. Just as with your high-end clothes, you can view your collection online and manage it too. They inventory it. You decide when to drink it. Go one state north and you’ll discover Oregon Wine Reserve – a club that stores your wine in custom lockers while also providing a comfortable venue for entertaining your guests.
Both are examples of a relatively new trend in the storage industry. Take the “self” out of “self-storage,” and replace it with a concierge. Bingo: you’ve got a whole new way to store. Additional examples of this concept can be found at ConciergeStorage.com, BoxButler.com, and AutoConcierge.co.
The idea is the same as traditional self-storage: Customers get a safe, climate-controlled place to keep their stuff. The difference is that someone else does all the work. They visit your home, make recommendations on which of their offerings would best suit you, haul your items away, safely store them and bring them back later when you need them. Customers no longer have to haul items back and forth, and pick through a crowded storage unit to find the items they need. The concierge takes care of it.
So what can’t a concierge do? As secure as their facilities may be, concierge storage facilities can’t guarantee against unexpected losses – that’s a job for your storage insurance.
If your items are valuable enough to deserve concierge storage services, get them the best that insurance has to offer, too. Click to learn how storage insurance works and get a free storage insurance quote, while you’re visiting.
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