Self Storage and innovation aren’t necessarily terms you’d expect to see mentioned in the same sentence, however one South Australian business is doing just that in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.

Established in the mid-80s in Alice Springs by husband and wife duo, Colin and Liz Davies, who – according to son and State Manager, Blake – were total opposites when it came to accumulating items.

“Mum generally likes keeping stuff and my dad is the exact opposite,” Blake told Business SA.

“But he seems to have embraced it now.”

The Davies family relocated to South Australia and opened their site at Holden Hill in 2002.

“When we built the site at Holden Hill, it was very innovative,” Blake explained.

“It was built split level in the hills – part of the centre is underground, so we use that for climate controlled storage of items such as wine and artwork.”

Business SA visited Blake at the company’s second SA site, located at Elizabeth South, which has had new life breathed into it by Self Storage Australia, once again with a focus on innovation.

“An engineering company used to work in it: they were a Holden supplier,” Blake said.

“Since acquiring the building, we have completely revamped it. Internally, it has bright yellow roller doors as well as reflective walls and high efficiency LED lighting, so we don’t use too much power. The walls are high gloss white, so when the LED sensor lighting switches on, it lights up the walls which is useful when moving items into storage units, as it creates extra lighting. It also makes customers feel as though they’re in a safe environment.”

Meeting – and exceeding – customer needs sits at the heart of the business.

“With storage units, there are many different ways of how to measure them, but we keep it simple. There are four main sizes: quarter size, half size, three quarter and a single,” Blake told Business SA.

“Quarter size is used for things like clothes, half size is the most common and fits a two-bedroom house’s belongings, and three quarter to single can generally fit a four or five bedroom house’s belongings.”

“The way this site (Elizabeth South) is set up, we can convert units to make them bigger or smaller to suit our customers’ needs.”

“We look at our business as a one stop shop. Whether you need storage or help with moving – we have trucks and trailers you can hire, packing boxes, and we can even put you in contact with local, interstate or overseas removalists. If you’re looking at moving, no matter what stage you are at, we can help.”

As for the future, Self Storage Australia sees endless possibilities.

“With business, you always have to look at growing,” Blake explained.

“We’re looking at different areas of Adelaide and well as improving our current sites. We’re also looking at increasing the number of staff.”

It’s an innovative philosophy that is being recognised – and rewarded.

Self Storage Australia was a finalist for two awards at the 2016 Self Storage Association of Australasia (SSAA) Self Storage Industry Awards for Excellence recently held in Melbourne.

The company took out the title for ‘Best Upgrade or Expansion of the Year’.

“We are happy to say that our latest expansion at our Holden Hill facility has been recognised as the best in Australasia,” Blake told Business SA.

“This award is kind of like the Gold Logies for the self storage industry.”

To discover more about Self Storage Australia Holden Hill, visit www.selfstore.com.au/