Can’t hold your alcohol? Literally, that is.
Wine collectors who don’t have enough space, or have too valuable vintages to keep in their homes, would be wise to visit Storbox Self-Storage and Wine Grotto.
Opened in 2001, owner Brett Barnard says “we have over 200,000 square feet under roof at this location, on 3.5 acres. The majority of that is dedicated to self-storage, that’s 185,000 that’s dedicated to self-storage and about 15,000 that’s dedicated to wine storage.”
The company started out with just 10,000 square feet of wine storage in 2001, “then in 2006 we expanded with a new five-story building. Four-story plus a basement in 2006, and that has both traditional storage and wine storage in it,” Barnard explains.
Barnard tells us, that for the standard storage, “Pretty much anything (is allowed) as long as they’re not illegal content. And in the building, we don’t allow flammables.”
Unlike other self-storage places, Barnard explains that theirs offer something different.
“The wine grotto is a fairly unique product where the self-storage is more of a traditional. Our self-storage has alarms on every door, we have 32 cameras throughout the site, so it’s high-end, the nicest that you’re going to find in the San Gabriel Valley,” says Barnard.
Why the need for extra security? Barnard tells us that “for the wine storage, the product that people are going to store tends to be of value to them, valuable. And how you maintain it is very critical. There’s a lot more that goes in to the designing and maintaining of that environment.”
Though similar wine storages can be found in Glendale and other cities, the Wine Grotto is tho only one of its kind in Pasadena.
“We’re very high in customer service. I pay my staff very well. Our sales associates make more than public storage managers do but I expect more of them, and so as far as following procedures, making sure that our customers have a secured environment, if there’s issues we’d identify them right away,” Barnard says of the company’s philosophy.
Wine storage is a much more complicated affair than standard self-storage. Barnard says, “If you can execute well on the wine storage, you can easily do the self-storage.” However, “If you can do self-storage, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to be successful with wine storage.”
Unlike other self-storages facilities, where there’s one “one person that’s there five days a week or seven days a week,” says Barnard, “we have a daily log when employees go through and they have to walk the aisles and make sure everything seems to be buttoned up and shipshape, looking at temperature, looking at humidity.”
Wine aficionados need not worry about their rare vintages as well, since Barnard is also a wine-person. He says, “I’m pragmatic but I’m also somebody who appreciates the art” of wine tasting.
Will space become an issue? According to Barnard, it’s not.
“If I dedicate some space and it takes 20 years to fill it, that’s fine because I can always build more, and that’s what I did. You know, I started running out of space, I built the second place; when I ran out of space, I built the third place,” he says.
Barnard knows storage, and he is an expert at wine storage. Storbox Self-Storage and Wine Grotto is a testament to his knowledge. People who need a place to store expensive wines, need someone who knows how to store and appreciate it. Barnard is their guy.
Storbox Self-Storage and Wine Grotto is located at 2233 E Foothill Blvd., and if you want to know more about the company, visit http://www.thewinegrotto.com or call (626) 247-8380 for more information.
