Bien Sûr opens 3 sites in 4 years and signs 1,200 contracts with Stora

About Bien Sûr

Bien Sûr is a self storage operator in the Yvelines, west of Paris. Founded by Matthieu Burnand-Galpin, the company runs three facilities, Bois d'Arcy, Mourpas, and Orgeval, all within 30 minutes of the city. Sites offer indoor self storage units and outdoor container storage, with a team of five running all three.

Key stats

The challenge

When Matthieu started Bien Sûr, France had around 100 self storage sites. He'd discovered the industry while living in the US, where self storage is 50 times larger per capita, and saw a clear gap. He moved to close it.

Starting from scratch in a young market meant the software he chose had to work from day one. Online booking was the non-negotiable: he wanted customers to be able to reserve a unit, pay, and sign a contract without picking up the phone. In French self storage in 2021, that capability was rare.

He also needed something his team could learn fast. With a small operation and no dedicated IT resource, training had to be short.

The solution

Matthieu came across Stora at a self storage conference in 2021. Before committing, he tested it himself.

"Within a few minutes of trying it, I quickly just understood how it worked. I thought that if that's the case for me, it will be the same for my team."

Stora's online booking capability covered his core requirement, and the full feature set, automated billing, digital contracts, payment collection, and site analytics, matched everything a growing operation would need. Bien Sûr has run on Stora since Bois d'Arcy opened.

The results

Bois d'Arcy, now open for three years, is at roughly 80% occupancy, around 300 units let. Across all three sites, Bien Sûr has signed 1,200 contracts on Stora.

Admin runs automatically

The feature Matthieu relies on most is automated billing. When a new customer is set up, a subscription is created and Stora invoices on their monthly anniversary date, matching incoming payments without any manual input.

"Every month we don't have to create invoices. It's just automatic and it collects payments automatically."

A quarter of customers never speak to the team before signing up

25% of Bien Sûr's customers complete their entire booking online, choosing a unit, paying, and signing the contract, without any contact from staff.

"It's amazing that we can serve 25% of our customers without even speaking to them before they sign up."

Customers who do contact the team can be sent a quote and reserve directly from a link, on their own schedule. Either way, staff spend less time processing bookings and more time with customers.

Sites run with the team elsewhere

Bois d'Arcy is staffed just two days a week. The rest of the time, Matthieu and his team manage it remotely. Stora links with the site's cameras and access control system, so customers can move in and out even when no one is on site.

"Even if our site manager is elsewhere, they can manage Bois d'Arcy remotely."

Stora's facility map gives a visual view of which units are occupied and which are not. Matthieu checks the analytics dashboard weekly, splitting revenue by site and by type: storage income versus insurance income.

A foundation for growth

A team of five runs all three sites and has signed 1,200 contracts over four years. Matthieu is planning a fourth facility.

"Stora really helped us on the first facility. And that's what helped us develop a second and a third site, especially with such a small team."

The process of setting up a new site on Stora, having done it three times, is close to a button press.

"We've already done it three times. To do it a fourth time, we'll just need to copy-paste what we've done."

What Matthieu said

"Since day one, we've been using Stora and it's what's helped us fuel all our growth."

Matthieu Burnand-Galpin, Founder, Bien Sûr