Storrage, a new Seattle-based storage service, is pleased to announce the start of service in select Seattle and Eastside neighborhoods, providing customers with a new option for storing items using a smartphone app to quickly request next-day pick-up or delivery of their possessions, including seasonal items like golf clubs, ski gear and bikes.

Founded by former executives of HomeGrocer.com, Storrage fills a need for secure, off-site storage with convenient home delivery and pickup made possible with advances in mobile app technology and cloud services.

“Our research has shown that most urban homeowners and apartment-dwellers would love the ability to find a place to store occasionally used items, but the current model of driving to a storage locker, or filling a pallet of stuff, simply isn’t a convenient, workable solution for about 90 percent of the market,” said Terry Drayton, founder and CEO of Storrage. “What Storrage provides is an extraordinarily convenient, affordable way to store clothing, household items or virtually anything else, retrievable with a few key taps on a smartphone.”

The Storrage approach allows customers to use the Storrage app – available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices – to request next-day home delivery of commercial-grade containers about the size of a carry-on suitcase. After packing and tagging the contents using the app, a friendly Storrage driver picks up the containers and stores them in a secure, climate-controlled facility. Customers retrieve the items the same way.

The service is designed for items that people need to keep but seldom use, including clothes, documents and keepsakes as well as seasonal items such as holiday decorations. Storrage can also safely store sporting goods including bikes, skis, snow boards and golf clubs.

“Self-storage is a very successful $22 billion industry, but with an average cost of $175 a month, it does little to help someone who simply wants to store a second closet of seasonal clothing, ski gear or a few boxes of holiday lights,” Drayton added. “Storrage is priced so that all customers have the flexibility to store as little or as much as they need an all-in cost of around $25 a month for most customers.”

All aspects of the Storrage service are managed by customers through the mobile app. The app allows customers to name each container, request typically next-day pickup and delivery of their items, and even add optional photos using their phone’s camera, so they can remember exactly what they stored and request delivery of only the items they need. All customer data is stored in the cloud.

“Our mobile app provides a vastly superior customer experience compared to traditional storage options,” added Drayton. “For example, instead of having to drive out to a self-storage site and dig through boxes in a dusty storage unit to find a pair of snow boots, Storrage customers browse through their items in the app, quickly locate the appropriate container, with a picture of the boots, and have it delivered to their door the next day.”

Storrage was designed with the following customers in mind:

• Urban dwellers living in apartments, condos and smaller homes with limited storage space
• Suburban dwellers who would like to regain use of their garage, extra room or basement
• Downsizers moving to smaller homes
• Current customers of self-storage facilities who need less space or want the safety and convenience of home pickup and delivery
• College students who need to store items while off-campus during summer break
• Seniors moving into retirement communities

“Storrage customers pay about 85 percent less than the average amount paid by self-storage customers,” said Drayton. “The storage industry has not modernized to keep pace with emerging technologies, like smartphones. Just like Uber is rewriting the rules of the taxi business, we intend to shake things up and deliver a vastly superior customer experience.”

Storrage accepts items that can fit its standard size containers (24” W x 20” L x 12” H, with a 35-pound capacity). Storrage also stores golf clubs, skis, snowboards and bicycles in larger containers for an additional cost if customers store five or more containers.

All items are stored at a secure, restricted access, climate-controlled warehouse. Storrage facilities are monitored 24 hours a day. Unlike many traditional storage companies that hire subcontractors, Storrage employs its own drivers and bonded warehouse staff to ensure absolute professionalism of its staff and security and safety of customer items.

Storrage received $1.5M in Series A funding earlier this year, raised largely from Pacific Northwest investors and plans to offer Storrage franchises beginning in 2014 primarily to veterans.

Storrage is currently servicing the following zip codes in Seattle: 98101, 98102, 98103, 98104, 98105, 98107, 98109, 98112, 98115, 98119, 98121, 98122, 98195 and on the Eastside: 98004, 98005, 98007, 98008, 98033, 98034, 98039, 98040, 98052.

For more information, to watch a video showing how the service works and to download the Storrage mobile app, visit https://www.storrage.com/.

About Storrage

Storrage Inc. is the Seattle-based service that provides the next generation in the off-site storage of physical items, an ideal solution for those who value the time-saving convenience of on-demand pickup and delivery of their possessions, as well as the safe storage of their items. For more information, visit https://www.storrage.com.

(via BusinessWire)

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