Gone This Month? Store Your Stuff For Free

Expats aren’t exactly renowned for leading stable lives. Whether we are backpackers, English teachers or traveling businessmen, we tend to relocate often, reside in apartments too small to accommodate our clothes or furniture, and/or have no place to store our valuables when we aren’t home. In the past, we had few alternatives – Beijing’s storage options were expensive, unreliable and way too much trouble than they were worth. But starting tomorrow, Koala Mini Storage will be here to help – and we’ve snagged a special deal for you readers. Read on for details.

Founders Tim Zhou and Sean Qin, who first became buddies at Harvard, quit their lucrative jobs in finance and consulting to “build something they believed in”: the first professional self-storage provider in Beijing. The model they are following is the same one that exists in the US: Only customers have the key to their storage space, which they can access 24/7, and the premises are protected by a security guard as well as an anti-theft system.

“In the long run, our goal is to become China’s most professional self-storage provider offering the most value for our customers’ money,” Tim and Sean told me.

As for the various uses one has for mini storage:
• As part of moving, renovating or travel
• To de-clutter and beautify your home
• To provide a private, safe and temperature- controlled environment to store art, antiques and valuables
• To store files and equipment for companies outgrowing their offices

You can rent by the week, the month or the year – and stop renting or switch to a different size at any time. Their first store site is situated next to Joy City Chaoyang, with more locations to come in Wangjing, Shuangjing and Haidian District. Opening promotion prices start from RMB 99/month for one cubic meter unit (0.9 x 0.9 x 1.2) for three months. You can't enjoy the same special rate with larger units, but Koala will give customers one free month if they rent three months or more.

The only question that remains is, why koalas? According to their press release, it's because koalas keep their young in their pouch – “a constant reminder for us to treat what our customers entrust to us as the most precious things in the world.”

Well, what are you waiting for? If you have a need for storage, we have even more good news for you. Starting tomorrow, April 18, all readers can use Koala Mini Storage’s services completely free of charge when they bring in an issue of the Beijinger. We promise there are no hidden fees and obligations – even the standard one month rental deposit will be waived for this period. Limit is one storage unit per person, and the deal expires on May 18.

If you have any questions, you can contact Koala Mini Storage at questions@koalaministorage.com or call them at 5969 9390. To learn more about the founders' business strategy, check out this interview published in our sister magazine Agenda.

Koala Mini Storage. Bldg 10, Unit 3, Qingnian Lu Xili, Chaoyang District. (5969 9390, questions@koalaministorage.com) www.koalaministorage.com 考拉迷你仓, 朝阳区青年路西里2号院10号楼

Photos: Courtesy of Koala Mini Storage