First Keyless Storage Comes to Aberdeen Courtesy of First-Time Owner

Former lawyer Brian Barbour knew there was a need for self-storage in his former college town of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. With an investment of £140,000, plus undisclosed property costs, Storage Den was born.

“Aberdeen is somewhere I know well from my days of studying and thought it was a an ideal location," says Barbour. "There was a lack of competition compared to other cities and affordability was better than Edinburgh or Glasgow."

In his previous life, Barbour offered legal services to banking clients providing finance to self-storage companies. That's when he realized that despite the UK being the third-largest self-storage market in the world behind the U.S. and Australia, there was still a lot of room for growth.

“My parents have their own business, which I’ve always found really motivating, and I realized that I had spotted an opportunity to start up one of my own.”

Brian Barbour, owner of Storage Den

The facility, located at Intown Rd, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen AB23 8EZ, is comprised of 70 indoor storage units in various sizes, all individually alarmed with motion sensors and monitored with CCTV. Storage Den can also boast being the first facility in Aberdeen to offer keyless entry, with customers having the ability to access their units via mobile app from 5am–11pm.

Barbour says there has been strong demand since Storage Den opened, with a mixture of business owners, families, offshore oil workers, and students making use of the space available.

Storage Den plans to offer external storage options in the coming months. Further down the road, Barbour plans to expand into other cities in Scotland and would eventually like to take Storage Den to countries in mainland Europe. “It’s been a busy year or so working to get my ideas for Storage Den off the ground," he says. "The industry standard for a storage facility to become mature is two years, and I’m trying to do this within the year."

Despite only launching in March this year, Storage Den was recently named out of more than 350 applicants as one of five finalists at Storers’ Den, a UK-wide competition which encourages self-storage operators who have been in business less than three years to pitch for investment.

"We're proud to have played a part in bringing innovative solutions to Aberdeen and look forward to witnessing the positive impact this new venture will have on the city's landscape and economy," says Barbour, who also attributes some of the company's success to Business Gateway, a publicly funded service that contributes to the economic well-being of Scotland by providing access to free business support services. "They have been invaluable for making my vision for Storage Den a reality.”