News & Updates

Between 12 and 3pm on Saturday December 1st we wanted to have a bit of fun with Wollongong residents and let them know about our Grand Opening Celebration of Kennards Self Storage Wollongong, 98 – 104 Gipps Street. We will be giving two brief tours of the facility highlighting the features of our centre and services that we can offer. Also for added fun for the kids we have an ice-cream van, balloons and a clown!

2013 marks the 40th Birthday of the family owned business, and there have been many milestones since founder – Neville Kennard returned from a US business trip with the idea. Then Managing Director of Kennards Hire, he built six storage units behind the Moorebank, Sydney Hire Centre and what became ‘EASI-STOR’ grew from there.

The 80’s & 90’s saw steady growth and the acquisition of dedicated self storage facilities – beginning with Fortitude Valley in Brisbane. By the turn of the century the re-named company “Kennards Self Storage” had grown to 14 properties and was now under the stewardship of Neville’s son – Sam Kennard.

Major events in the Naughties centred around the 2004 acquisition of our then largest competitor – Millers Self Storage through a joint venture with Valad Property Group – a stock exchange listed REIT. This followed with the 2008 acquisition of eight more properties in New Zealand and culminated in the eventual buy-out of Valad to return the company back to 100% Australian family ownership in 2010.

This year, along with the opening of Wollongong, we have begun a Management Agreement for two more centres – Mayfield and Cardiff in the Newcastle area. We have also launched an exciting new website where customers can choose and select their own spaces or purchase boxes entirely online.   Sadly, June 2012 also marked the passing away of our founder Neville Kennard. However his family with son Sam still at the helm, perpetuates the legacy.

The Wollongong property has a special place in our company history. It was the first property that Neville and Sam bought together as he began grooming Sam to take over the leadership of the business.

By 2013 the portfolio will have grown to 76 centres across NSW, VIC, SA, QLD and NZ.

The need for self storage is often driven by those important events in people’s lives. They can be quite stressful – be it marriage, divorce, the passing of a loved one or the various steps when upgrading, renovating or moving between homes. At Kennards we show appreciation for the circumstances our customers are going through and deliver an experience that shows care and compassion for such times.

It’s for this reason you only pay for what you use. We only give you as much storage space as you need and we’ve removed un-necessary or confusing administration fees. We give you peace of mind with our security features and daily lock checks as well as convenience with features such as our 24 hour access.

We care about the customer experience and we care about being ethical and transparent in our business dealings.

This is why at Kennards Self Storage we say: “Store with People Who Care.”

Author: Darryl Hodgson, NSW Operations Manager, Kennards Self Storage