Winebuzz

Interview with Kevin She: Storing Your Wine with SC Storage Hong Kong

SC Storage’s CEO tells us more about their solution to HK wine storage.

With so many Hong Kongers collection wine in Hong Kong, we at Winebuzz have been looking at the different options available in Hong Kong: starting with SC Storage. SC Storage is the biggest self storage provider in Hong Kong with over 6,000 mini storage rooms, in 22 different locations with delivery time to you in 12-24 hours. And now they turn their attention to storing wine.

With all the temperature and environment controlled technology in place, you can store anything from 5 cases to 50 cases of wine at their wine-specific location in Wong Chuk Hang. We recently had a chat with Mr. Kevin She, the Chief Executive Officer of SC Storage about the operation and his view at the future of wine in Hong Kong:

How did you get into the wine storage business?
I started the wine storage business because our main business Self Storage is not growing as fast as before. However, we’ve noticed many wine shops and distributors popping up everywhere near our storage areas, and after noticing that the tax was removed (in Hong Kong from wine), we believe that the wine storage will be a natural extension and next phase of growth for us.

Have you seen a growth in your business since the tax removal last year?
Yes, we currently only have 1 site with wine storage of 5,000 sq ft, and that place is 90% full. We are re-modeling our storage site in Tsuen Wan into wine storage next month. So yes the wine storage growth is almost 25% faster then our storage growth. We only started this business November last year, so I assume the tax removal is related.

In an estimation what is your biggest customer and what is your smallest customer?
Our big customers would be middle sized wine distributors, they usually rent a 150-200 sq ft room because their warehouse is overstocked or they are using our storage as their warehouse.

A small customer or end user/consumer who likes to collect wine and just cannot store so many in his/her house, they rent a small size locker from us (about HK$400/sq ft) and they can store 4-5 boxes. It is still worth it because the wine they collect increases in prices so fast.

Why Wong Chuk Hang? Is it a special area for the environment?
Wong Chuk Hang is within 15 minutes driving distance from the middle/high end consumers from Happy Valley, Mid-levels, and Aberdeen. They are also many wine retailers that we are working with at this area.

What are your expansion plans in Tsuen Wan going to be? Is it a different place or just more space?
Expanding to Tsuen Wan is based on numerous customers feedback who want to store their wine on Kowloon Side. The construction will be similar to our Wong Chuk Hang storage, and the property is wholly owned by our company so their won’t be threat of landlord taking the place back.

Are most of your clients from HK or overseas? if so where?
80% of our customers are in Hong Kong, the overseas customers are from China whom often come to HK but can not bring back so much wine when they go back to China. So its cheaper for them to store with us and retrieve it next time they are in Hong Kong.

Where do you see the wine storage business in this time of economic recession?
As we are priced as one of the lowest cost wine storage provider in Hong Kong, it has benefited us as customers wants to save money while getting quality storage. Wine is a luxury item and an investment item, so it has been affected by the recession, however I believe we are in the last phase of the recession, so the futures looks bright.

Where do you see the wine storage business in 2010?
With the Wine market growing at 60-70% a year, I believe that wine storage will provide great opportunities for us. Since many our wine storage locations are next to MTR stations and next to residential districts , I think we are uniquely position and much opportunities awaits.

Read more about SC Storage’s wine storage service here.