It didn't take Michael Leung Hon-to long to get into trouble with his parents after they moved back from Canada five years ago. The sore point: his collection of 200 model cars.
'In Canada, I could stash my model cars in the basement,' says the 30-year-old real estate executive. But their new home - an 800 sq ft flat in Kwai Chung - was a third the size of their place in Canada so Leung began stacking his collection in the living room. 'They got annoyed when I tried to do that,' he says.
That's when Leung turned to a self-storage unit. Businesses that rent space of varying sizes, typically secured with the customers' own locks, have been established in the west for decades, but have become popular in Hong Kong only within the past decade.
There are now between 80 and 100 such companies in the city, says Bobby Chung Lap-kee, president of Hong Kong Storage. His 10-year-old company was among the first to set up in the city. In 1997, cheap industrial space was easily available as factories moved to the mainland, and Chung rented a 1,000 sq ft lot in a Kwai Chung industrial building for his first venture.
'In the beginning, Hong Kong people were wary of self-storage services,' he says.
'They weren't used to keeping stuff away from home. Traditionally, they only rented space for short periods when they were between houses. But more people are looking for long-term storage these days. People now see self-storage space as an extension of their home.