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Tennis ball with KUBOO branding on a clay court

I used to dream of Opens and Grand Slams

By Blog, Uncategorized
Ruling courts on tour, inside-ins and outs, cheering crowds, sliding through the clay to sneak a break-point amorti to the other side of the net, and, of course, autographing those big tennis balls after every match.

That was my dream as a young boy, back when dreaming was simpler, a few broken racquets and many never-seen-again balls ago. But as they say, closing doors opens new windows. It was 2010 and I had just moved out of my safe space to the south of Spain. Throughout my first weeks, I noticed a curious fact: I was unaware that padel is huge there. There were courts everywhere and, eventually, I got a job at a padel club, being responsible for managing the whole space, not just in Spanish, but also speaking English as there were many people moving from abroad to the city.

Every now and then I had to go to our storage unit, a mini warehouse on the other side of the street, to get boxes with more balls or new racquets. This was the time I first got in contact with the concept of self-storage. Instead of piling up stuff around, having stock safely stored nearby.

Way far from Roland Garros clay slides, but I had found space for a new passion. Alongside two colleagues we started an online business, mainly reselling sports clothing and some merchandise.

Later, we moved to Lisbon, bringing the brand with us. This move opened a big window. An emerging market in Portugal, and ultimately, what allowed us to be doing this for a living: designing and selling racquets. An idea with big potential and a bigger need for storage space, leading us to KUBOO Self-Storage, only 10 minutes driving from our flat in Lisbon’s city center.

We started with a not so big storage unit, just enough storage space to have some stock: a few boxes with clothing, ball tubes, racquets and a couple pairs of shoes.

The demand on our online shop kept growing, and so were our Kuboos. A single unit soon turned into two. Eventually a bigger one, with its space destined entirely for handmade racquets. At some point we’d come to KUBOO around 5 times a week, both during the day and night.

Our Kuboos became and now are, not only an extension of our office, but mostly our operations center. Five yellow doored storages filled with shelves, to make the best out of the available space, stocked with inventory to be shipped daily to padel and tennis clubs, players, enthusiasts, and those who have a small space for the sport in their lives, all around the Iberian Peninsula.

From Finalists to Winners!

By Blog, Uncategorized

From Finalists to Winners! KUBOO sweeps the Grand Prize for the Best European Self-Storage of 2022!

And we have no words other than to thank our clients and our staff, as well as the professional pan-european jury who voted for us!

We won’t sleep on our laurels, we never do. Our mission never changed, and it’s to offer every single person that walks in our store the best experience from beginning to end. To never stress them, to always help them, understand their needs and cater to them.

That’s one reason why Kuboo is the most loved self-storage, but there are many more.

Safety and security: we have 10 times more cameras than any competitor on the market. We are talking about more than 100 cameras per finished facility! We have multiple alarms connected to the central and the Police, and we have many entry access that only our client can open.

We have 5 staff per facility so you will never wait.

We have extensive opening hours and we are always always available 24/7 for anything you may need.

No one can compete with Kuboo.

Nor can they match the cozy design of our reception or of our facilities that makes you feel at home. And of course none of our uber-kind staff.
In Lisbon, Seixal, Carnaxide, Aboboda, Cascais, and soon all over Portugal, you will always have a home away from home to store and secure your belongings for as short or as long as you need, with utmost respect and kindness and in absolute safety.

THANK YOU AGAIN! WE ARE PROUD TO TAKE PORTUGAL TO THE NEXT LEVEL IN WHAT WE DO.

Until next year-

KUBOO finalist for Best Independent Self-Storage award in Europe

By Blog, Uncategorized

KUBOO finalist for Best Independent Self-Storage award in Europe

We knew we were the most loved self-storage in Portugal. We knew it because clients tell us so but also because we have the most and the best Google reviews in the country!

But now we seem to have crossed another barrier, one that makes us proud for Portugal: KUBOO has been chosen among 3 other European self-storages as Finalist in the biggest and most prestigious Self-storage Award ceremony in Europe!

FEDESSA, The Federation of European Self Storage Associations yearly Conference and Awards ceremony taking place this week will crown the winner. But being chosen as one of 4 Finalists among 4,300 other self-storage shops in Europe is an achievement in itself. And we take it as such.

KUBOO is now one of the most loved self-storages not only in Portugal but in Europe! Our hospitality, our creativity, our sense of genuine kindness can hardly be matched, and it makes us happy that the hard work of greeting each of our clients and catering to their every need is recognized worldwide by the industry itself.

We don’t merely serve our clients, we actually help them throughout their move, we facilitate everything for them with the never faltering smile of our Kuboodistas, our exceptional staff chosen for their genuine personalities and ther big hearts and professionalism.

We understand that moving and storing is one of the most difficult passages of life, so we’ve built KUBOO to make sure everyone moving and storing with us is treated with respect and unflinching help. That their belongings are safe, secure, and in the best hands possible.

We can go on but no need, it’s time to celebrate our achievements, time to thank our clients and recognize the hard and generous work of each and every Kuboodista who made KUBOO as it is, beautiful, kind, genuine and attentionate to everything and everyone.

We are proud to take Portugal to the European level. And beyond!
-All made with love in Lisbon-

Some goodbyes are hard

By Blog, Uncategorized
This month’s blog was written by our beloved intern Lourenço The Kid:
Some goodbyes are hard, we all know it, and today came the day of mine.
Exactly 14 months ago I moved to Lisbon to work for a company called KUBOO, I knew little about what they did and even less about where Carnaxide was. In fact, I had never heard the name of that place before. I knew they were a self-storage company, but I didn’t know exactly what that was.

From my study of the area I learned that they were a space where you could rent mini-warehouses or boxes (call them what you want, for me they will forever be kuboos) where people with no garage or storage at home put their surplus goods.

I quickly realized that it was much more than that, in fact this whole KUBOO universe was much more than just a warehouse or a workplace where everyone sits from 9am to 6pm doing their job. It is the extension of the homes of hundreds of people who trust us to leave their belongings knowing that they are safe here. A bit like how all employees feel walking in the door, we end up just being away from home and away from family for the 20 minute ride between Home and KUBOO. Once at KUBOO we’re back home.

KUBOO is a self-storage of good memories, because if there is one thing I am sure of, it is that I don’t want to forget Carnaxide and all the kuboodista family that welcomed me and made Lisbon feel like home.

Thanks kuboodistas and I hope I can have given ⅓ of what you gave me because believe me, I feel lucky if I have achieved such a feat.

Until the next time,
The Kid.

(I still had a lot to write but my boss asked me for a half-page blog)

Spaces, boxes and colours

By Blog, Uncategorized

Elon Musk is going to space. That’s what space is. A big vast cold, silent and hostile darkness where things get lost. Never to be found again. Like one Tesla with a dummy, gone for good!

Bill Gates likes boxes. He even had an Xbox made of gold. An xbox, like a box, is small and closed, and nobody really knows what’s inside. It doesn’t matter if it’s made of gold, silver or tin. But it’s easy to break open.

Mr. Benetton likes colours. All kinds of colours, the rainbow colours. Oh, that’s very nice! It feels so childishly poetic it makes me want to cry. But colour is dangerous, it can go in any possible way; a little darker and you can’t see anymore, a little lighter and you’re lost in the glaze.

We at KUBOO don’t sell space with ideas of grandeurs, we don’t store your belongings in a box with a door, and we don’t call ourselves any Royal name made out of colours that we don’t own.

We at KUBOO make sure you are happier when you walk out than you were when you walked in. This is the centre of our mission and of our state of being. It’s the only worthy revolution in the self-storage service. To treat people as if they were our friends. We’ve done that for 5 years straight and we plan on never stopping.

Storing is not a fun game. It’s stressful and demanding. But you have a choice in Portugal now, between a garage looking space, a closed humid box, a name so colourful you forget how dirty it is underneath the paint, or, simply put, KUBOO.

Because storing at KUBOO is like checking in a boutique hotel. Easy, crisp, welcoming and friendly. And of course, by far the most nicely designed, safest and cleanest facilities in Europe.

Your call.

When I was young, I wanted to marry a rich girl

By Blog, Uncategorized
Of course it never happened. I am still single. And when you’re single you tend to become attached to things, so I became a collector of sorts.

A hoarder of small insignificant objects that with time, became important to my well-being. How did that happen? I was a simple guy with no attachments, travelling most of the time, working, eating, sleeping, travelling. I had no chains to anything, until I suddenly did.

A hoarder’s life is difficult. Don’t underestimate the power of habit. Specially if you’re edging on OCD. It can get out of control in no time. And it did. My friends started realizing that I was collecting certain objects, specially Jukeboxes and Vinyls. I just couldn’t help it, I couldn’t stop myself, and instead of making me realize the excess I had become a victim to, they were offering me more vinyls, and more parts for my jukeboxes. Easy gifts. Friends are lazy.

I lived in a good-size house, where 4 jukeboxes fit nicely, but I was going on my 20th jukebox and I obviously was running out of space.

So here we are, the little ad for Kuboo coming out of this simple story, this is where I went, to Kuboo, this is the only place in town where I felt I was treated like the sensitive person that I am, and the sole place in town where I didn’t worry about my jukeboxes.

So here you go, you make your call when you need self-storage. Make sure you compare in depth all the components of the services you are being offered. Make no mistake, don’t believe self-advertising, don’t fall in the easy trap of companies who claim they’re the best, the most modern, the biggest, the supermen of storage. They’re mostly dishonest in claiming those championship titles without the slightest hint of a proof. Like Dr. House says: Everybody lies.

Don’t rent a warehouse, rent a Kuboo. It’s cleaner, safer, more secure and better conceived. Don’t rent a box, you’ll get stuck inside. Rent a Kuboo. Don’t rent a garage, it’s dirty and humid. Don’t rent a space! Who rents spaces? What’s a space anyways? And certainly don’t rent a basement! How horrible! Be it in Lisbon, or around, it’s a Kuboo you need. I promise you.

Until the next story.

New beginnings take time (part II)

By Blog, Uncategorized
Over time, stress has been perceived and regarded in different ways. It hasn’t always been called stress, nor has it been associated with the same causes, or has been given the importance it deserves. But it has always existed. It seems.

Vasco (35 years old), Lisbon

Just thinking about it makes me tired. Every time I open my closet and see all the clothes I have…

I don’t even know where to start! But let’s go back 21 months. Vânia and I always dreamed of living in a house in the country, making our tailor-made renovations, having our own garden, our little vegetable garden, no neighbors above or below, our own parking space! A sense of simple freedom.

The houses on the market were very expensive, but we went looking, without any hurry. We contacted some Real-estate agencies, we received several offers of houses for sale every day, the agents wouldn’t let us go, but nothing interesting came.

We made so many visits, so many disappointments and desillusions, but no house. And then the meetings with the bank, literally doing the math over and over again. We gathered our money, made credit approvals, simulations, guarantees… see how far we could stretch the rope. And one day, we found the one that was to be our little corner! The location was good, the spaces were well organized, the volumes wide with lots of natural light.

Paperwork done, key in hand, House bought!

But now we had another mission ahead of us: deal with the moving. When do we do it? Should we hire a moving company? We had to do some work in the new house, but the old one was already sold and we had to move out. So what now? We rented a house as we waited, but what about our things?

The solution was simple: KUBOO. We called and they recommended a moving company and took care of everything for us with them. We came to an agreement that they would take all our stuff to the warehouse. And here we are today. Filling the boxes we bought at KUBOO. Some are bigger than others. In my case, and with so many clothes I have, I’d better start with the big boxes. Vânia is more practical and the medium boxes fit her perfectly. It has been 21 months non-stop, our bank account is unrecognizable, but soon better days will come.

New beginnings take time.

Patricia (29 years old), Carnaxide

I’m daddy’s little girl. It’s not something I aspired to be, but I’m an only child and my father always treated me like a princess. He owned a small restaurant in Lisbon. Simple place, traditional food, Fado on weekends, and the best duck rice in the world! My father’s dream was for me to take over his restaurant. When he retired, and to please him, I ended up taking over the place.

The duck rice continued to be among the best in the world. I had everything pretty organized and working, the employees were happy with my management, and that was reflected in the friendliness towards the customers. We were open 7 days a week, and even started taking dinner reservations.

But then the damn Covid arrived. I was prepared for everything except to see the restaurant closed, the clients not leaving their homes, my employees with families to feed, the Fado singers in silence… At first we lived in fear of catching the virus. But the money started running out and my main fear became having to close the restaurant. Desperate months followed, I couldn’t even sleep! I had a team of employees to take care of and the responsibility to save the restaurant that once belonged to my father.

Later, the restaurants reopened, but with limited access. That’s when I made the best decision. The dining space was small and to make it more profitable, I converted one of the storage rooms into a restaurant area. We gained more space, and therefore more diners. And where did the storage things end up? Simple: I took everything to KUBOO Self-Storage in Carnaxide, a big and modern facility with mini-warehouses for everyone and every circumstance. I rented a Unit (or Kuboo as they call it) and stored everything on shelves that went from wall to wall.

It was only a 15 minute drive from the restaurant!

Even during the pandemic, the rental process was easy, simple and fast. In less than 10 minutes, I had my Kuboo and paperwork ready. KUBOO also provides an app that allows me to open all access gates from my mobile phone without touching any of the keypads, to help ensure total safety.

Fortunately my decision on renting a storage box at KUBOO was well worth it: the once small restaurant was now able to accommodate more customers, even with the restrictions imposed. The restaurant was saved, as well as all the people who lived off the restaurant. And I kept my father’s dream alive. KUBOO says they have the best coffee in the world, I have the best duck rice in the world. But we both value the happiness of our employees.

It took some time. But new beginnings do take time.

THE TOTAL END

New beginnings take time (part I)

By Blog, Uncategorized
Over time, stress has been perceived and regarded in different ways. It hasn’t always been called stress, nor has it been associated with the same causes, or has been given the importance it deserves. But it has always existed. It seems.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, stress is a “pressure or worry caused by the problems in someone’s life.” But what is a problem for me may not be for others. However, some events in our lives affect and impact us more than others.

4 of the events that can cause the most stressful situations in a person’s life are:
– The loss of a loved one;
– Divorce;
– Moving (or radical change in general);
– Work situation.

These are situations that cause a rupture in our routine, our life takes a different direction. There is no way to erase these events from our memory, but there are solutions that help us move forward with our lives. We bring you 4 cases that reflect some stressful situations, and how KUBOO helped to soothe those moments.

Lídia (43 years old), Lisbon

Today is Sunday, meaning family lunch day at our parents’ house. A tradition since we the children left home. We’re all at the table, mum, dad and siblings, reliving old stories in that house that brings back memories of our childhood and youth, the smell of old wood, the ticking of the wall clock, the vintage tableware, the family photos on the wall… how time has passed!

And then comes the day that you never wanted to come, the day when it’s all over, when our parents are not there anymore. It hurts, it really does! There’s not a day in our lives we don’t think about them. But life has to go on. And what do we do about the things in the house, our inheritance? Our parents worked their whole lives, they took care of that house like a child, the antique furniture, the porcelain, the turntable and radio cabinet, the coins and stamps collections, etc. Some things deserve a second chance.

But now, we’re 3 heirs of the family, how do we divide things up? Fortunately, nobody wants any hassle. But if we sell or throw them away, then there is no going back. Then why not keep it at KUBOO? We take things out of the house, put them in a secure place, in our new kuboo, exemplarily clean just like our parents’ house always was, and over time we will decide what to do with all those items.

New beginnings take time.

Bruno (31 years old), Cascais

I always thought marriage was for life. We celebrate our relationship with all our friends and family and swear oaths of love. “I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life”. This vow is universal. But let’s be realistic: in Portugal, in 2018 alone there were 58.7 divorces per 100 marriages!

And if a marriage takes months to organize, a divorce can drag on for years! And if there are children involved, the separation becomes even more complicated. The (still) spouses must decide whether to divorce by mutual consent or contested divorce. Lawyers come in, family mediation is requested, you think about your future. In my case, we had no children. But we had a house. And furniture I brought in from my old apartment, appliances she brought in from hers, and all the things we bought when we were already married.

She kept the house, I didn’t care. But we had to come to a property settlement agreement. We made a list of owned property and joint property and came to an agreement. It was over. Months of no sleep, antidepressants, therapies… I wanted to move on with my life! I put all my stuff at KUBOO while I looked for a place to live. And when I found that place, I continued to leave my stuff in KUBOO. The only place right now where I feel my belongings are safe. And everytime I go there, I bring back a box with me, and little by little I reintroduce those items into my life.

New beginnings take time.

END OF PART I

On retirement & storing

By Blog, Uncategorized
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” Confucius once said.

With my retirement approaching, I can say that this sentence has defined my path from the moment I decided to be a teacher. During the years I taught, in addition to memories, I also kept all the teaching books, gifts, drawings or even small messages written on paper that my students would give me.

With a career of almost 45 years as an elementary school teacher in Portugal, there were many memories that accumulated in the rooms that my daughters left when they became independent.

Without school, without my students, and with my daughters and grandchildren living in Lisbon, I decided to move closer to them, leaving behind the land where I grew up and lived and taking those memories with me. Looking for a house became more complicated than I expected because a house with a garage or a storage room, in Lisbon, Cascais or Oeiras is too expensive for the pockets of a retiring elementary school teacher.

When I shared the issue with friends and family, most of them advised me to rent a mini-warehouse or a self-storage where I could store all the memories of a lifetime. During my search for mini-warehouses in Lisbon several options came up, but since I don’t know anything about the concept of self-storage I asked my daughter if she knew of a safe, quality and hygienic space where I could store my belongings.

My daughter told me about a self-storage called KUBOO where a friend of hers had been renting a locker for over a year and that the friendliness of the staff, the accessibility and most importantly the safety made KUBOO a kind of a complement for her home. I decided to visit the space on the same weekend that I was visiting houses in Lisbon and in the Cascais area. It could be that the choice of the ideal house would become easier knowing that I had a space available that would offer me the feeling of enough trus to keep the memories of a lifetime.

I decided to visit the space on Saturday morning and then I would see some houses in the afternoon. I was amazed at how easy it was to get to KUBOO. Both Aboboda and Carnaxide.

Of course I was very well received with a coffee and a guided tour where I was amazed at the hygiene and safety of the place. From there we went to the facilities in Abóboda where once again it was very easy to get to. This one was closer to Cascais and suited me more.

Thanks to KUBOO, choosing a better house was much easier. I chose to live in Cascais and rent a space at KUBOO Abóboda. I went back to the facilities to make a reservation and to ask some questions about the best way to store my books, papers, gifts and photographs that I have kept over the years.

Since the hygiene of the facilities was something I could easily see, I did not worry about the possible entry of any kind of pests into the cardboard boxes that could destroy the material I was going to store there. But since it’s better to be safe than sorry, I preferred to ask the opinion of those who know what they are doing. That’s how I found out that they have a superior pest control program, 4 times a year!

Due to the great emotional value I have for the drawings, messages on small crumpled sheets, thousands of photographs, and because they are more fragile, they advised me to use double corrugated cardboard boxes, with a size very close to the merchandise, to prevent it from rocking and causing the boxes to burst. In addition, they recommended insulating all possible openings of the box with tape (at least two layers) or reinforcing the box externally with transparent film to give greater protection, solidity and resistance. I bought all the material at KUBOO, from cardboard boxes (there were several sizes), bubble wrap, tape, transparent film and markers, without having to worry about travel, queues and stress in another store selling these materials.

The move went wonderfully well, first going to KUBOO in Abóboda to put, in addition to my precious memories, the furniture that did not fit in the new house. KUBOO became an extension of my home and made my move simple and effective.

Now when my grandson asks me: “Grandma, what do you miss most about the times you used to teach?”, I answer: “Get your coat, let’s go to KUBOO!”.

Don’t store your memories anywhere!

Grow your business

By Blog, Uncategorized
Paperwork! That word that makes us roll our eyes and think “where can I keep all this safely and without occupying half the office?”

My company, like all companies, has a love-hate relationship with archives. We want them out of sight, but close to the heart. They have contracts, minutes, banking information and other important documents that require the originals to be impeccably separated and organized (most often) in wide-brimmed dossiers that in addition to not being the most appreciated decorative object, occupy too much space in the office.

Since I am not a person to cross my arms and sit tight, I decided to look for a solution, because this work from home business became an extension of the company and my world began to be in black and white, just like the files that haunt me.

The solution came in shades of yellow, like a beautiful summer day!

When asking around, the idea of self-storage kept coming back. For me it was not a totally unknown concept but I never imagined it as storage for important documentation.

Security has always been one of my biggest concerns, what kind of documentation can I safely store in a warehouse? Can documents be degraded in storage due to humidity? I decided to start my research and get real answers.

Self-storage yielded a bunch of results for Lisbon, and so I got down to contacting all of them.

I started sending emails and making phone calls. I was determined to find the best space for my paperwork. With the search the doubts were accumulating; what size of space do I need to archive everything? Access? Safety? Prices? How about fire concerns? It was all new to me.

After several exchanges of phone calls, there was a company that captured my attention because of the sympathy and the simple way in which they answered my questions. After a friendly invitation to visit the space, I got in the car and when I arrived in the vicinity of the premises, I started seeing yellow signs directing me to what is KUBOO. The ease with which the path was indicated was only overcome with the kindness with which I was received, a smile and an invitation to a coffee.

The time has come to get to know the facilities, from a reception with a fantastic design where I felt at home right away, to clean corridors with a pleasant aroma wherever you walked and with plenty of lighting, they showed me different sizes and set-ups to choose the best option for me.

The security that has always been a problem for me is no longer the case! 24-hour manned security, 75 cameras for video surveillance linked to a central, meaning they’re not just for show, they are for real! And access control on every gate and door! I couldn’t have asked for more!

After choosing the space that best suited my needs, it was time to deal with the paperwork, fast and without much bureaucracy, straight to what matters and with the same sympathy with which they received me.

After storing all my paperwork in boxes at KUBOO, I was received like a hero back at the office. There were no more files and paperwork scattered around the desks, shelves and cabinets, the light finally entered through the windows and the work flowed. While enjoying every pat on the back and every thank you, I was interrupted by my boss: “I need the contracts made in 2016”, I stood up, smiled and said “Let’s go then consult our files, we don’t need to bring coins, coffee is on KUBOO!”