The chalkboard says see you at Easter, the windbreaks are rigid with dried salt and sand, and you've got a van full of parasols, folding chairs and display stands with absolutely nowhere to put them. For seafront cafes, beach kiosks, holiday lets and seasonal market traders, the end of the summer season doesn't just mean a quieter inbox. It means a practical problem: where does everything go?
South Devon's coastal businesses run lean. Storage tends to be an afterthought, because during the season there's no time to think about it and during winter there's nowhere obvious to use. A spare room, a damp outbuilding, a lock-up that's already full of last year's problem. None of it quite works.
A Container Is the Simplest Answer Going
A 20ft shipping container at our Kingskerswell site takes the furniture from a medium-sized cafe or kiosk without breaking a sweat. Tables stacked flat, chairs folded and loaded, parasols laid along the walls, market stall frames slotted in beside them. Reverse the van to the doors, unload in one go, lock up and leave. That's genuinely the whole process.
Containers are weathertight and robust, which matters when you're storing things that spend the rest of the year being battered by sea air. The kit goes in dry, it stays dry, and it comes out again at Easter in the same condition it went in.
Only You Hold the Key
One thing that matters to a lot of our business customers is that their unit is theirs. Not shared with anyone else, not accessible to staff from some other company. When you rent a container with us, you provide your own padlock and you keep the only key. That suits seasonal traders who are storing branded equipment, stock, or anything else they'd rather not leave in communal hands.
Access at Kingskerswell is straightforward, which means you can get in and out when you need to, not just during a narrow window of staffed hours.
Businesses That Use Us Every Winter
Seafront cafes and kiosks are the obvious fit, but we store for a wider range of South Devon seasonal businesses than you might expect. Holiday let owners use us for garden furniture, parasols, barbecues and the kind of items that guests use in summer but that you don't want sitting outside unattended through January. Market traders use us for stall equipment, seasonal stock and signage. Event caterers store folding kit between bookings.
If your business goes quiet between October and March and leaves you with a pile of equipment that has no sensible home, a container almost certainly solves the problem tidily.
Multi-Unit Deals for Bigger Operations
Some businesses need more than one container, whether that's because the volume of kit is large or because different departments or sites want their own separate unit. We do bulk and multi-unit deals, so it's worth talking to us if your situation is a bit more involved than a single van load. The conversation costs nothing.
If you run a seasonal business in South Devon and winter is the awkward bit, get in touch for a quote and we'll work out what suits you.