Thistle Removals and Storage is a family-owned business which has successfully traded for over 60 years. This reputable business is ideally located in the March Road Industrial Estate of Buckie, just off the A98 and benefits from a bespoke facility which was built by the owners in 2008. This high-quality building is very well finished and is currently the only property on the site. It currently receives regular rental income from a local business which uses part of the building for storage. The business trades very profitably and also presents several opportunities to new owners which could significantly increase turnover and profitability. The sale includes 2Removal lorries, 1 forklift trucks and a specialised 1 container trailer used for mobile self-storage.. All fixtures and fittings within the well-appointed unit and adjacent office building are also included. The warehouse and office are well designed spaces with internal areas of circa 610m² and 65m² respectively.

Location

The traditional fishing town of Buckie dates back to the 1400’s and sits on the edge of a historical harbour. Featuring attractive sandy beaches and rock pools, the village offers an ideal base to explore the Northeast of Scotland either by car or on foot along the coastal walk or nearby Speyside Way. Ideally situated close to the A98, both Inverness and Aberdeen can be accessed in about an hour and a half’s drive, there is ample rail and bus links. Other towns and centres are located close by these include Banff, Fochabers, Elgin as well as also being a short drive from world-class fishing on the River Spey, superb golf courses and the Whisky Trail with several well-known brands and world class whisky distilleries located close by. Buckie has grown in recent years with significant house building on the outskirts. Both Primary and Secondary schooling is available as well as a busy High Street offering a variety of shops, pubs and restaurants. Ornithologists and naturalists are not short of interests here including bottlenose dolphins in the Moray Firth, the scenic Northeast coast has always been a popular tourist destination whether as a convenient base to explore numerous distilleries or to visit archaeological sites and historic castles.  

Terms

REASON FOR SALE

It is the current owners desire to retire that brings this desirable business to the market.

TRADE

Thistle Removals and Storage is a successful reputable family business which has traded lucratively for many years. In 2008 the director made the decision to build the bespoke subjects in the business park so they could offer better services to their client base. This investment has supported the development of this attractive and profitable business which is evident from the 5 star ratings on Yell, Google and 5/5 on Facebook. 

The business offers International and European removal services, providing safe and secure containerised storage facilities. They have the capability to handle all sizes of both domestic and commercial contracts and also offer the option to drop containers to customers’ premises for self-loading to then uplift and store. The utilisation of the large grounds offers long term storage for over 60 caravans, motorhomes, boats and trailers providing an additional steady income for the business.

The premises are well maintained throughout and benefit from an extremely high standard of office accommodation. Currently part of the property is rented to a local business for storage purposes but this could be retained by the business to build on the current removals business. In recent years the removals part of the business has been reduced with the main income deriving from the storage part of the business.

LOCATION

The traditional fishing town of Buckie dates back to the 1400’s and sits on the edge of a historical harbour. Featuring attractive sandy beaches and rock pools, the village offers an ideal base to explore the Northeast of Scotland either by car or on foot along the coastal walk or nearby Speyside Way. Ideally situated close to the A98, both Inverness and Aberdeen can be accessed in about an hour and a half’s drive, there is ample rail and bus links. Other towns and centres are located close by these include Banff, Fochabers, Elgin as well as also being a short drive from world-class fishing on the River Spey, superb golf courses and the Whisky Trail with several well-known brands and world class whisky distilleries located close by. Buckie has grown in recent years with significant house building on the outskirts. Both Primary and Secondary schooling is available as well as a busy High Street offering a variety of shops, pubs and restaurants. Ornithologists and naturalists are not short of interests here including bottlenose dolphins in the Moray Firth, the scenic Northeast coast has always been a popular tourist destination whether as a convenient base to explore numerous distilleries or to visit archaeological sites and historic castles.  

THE PROPERTY - WAREHOUSE

A purpose built, well-presented modern industrial unit constructed by way of a steel portal frame with a level insulated concrete floor, insulated profile metal clad walls and pitched insulated profile metal clad roof with double skin polycarbonate roof lights. This part of the building has an internal area of approximately 610m² and was designed so that three standard removal crates can be stacked on top of each other. The premises benefits from a manually operated steel roller shutter door. 

THE PROPERTY - OFFICE

Offices are based in a half height extension of the main storage building. This part of the building is constructed from the same metal profile sheets as the warehouse and finished internally with plasterboard fitted to a timber frame structure. All windows benefit from double glazing and the roof matches the main warehouse building. The internal layout of the property comprises of the following: reception office, office, staff area and 2 W.Cs. The building has an internal area of approximate 65m².

SERVICES

The subjects benefit from mains electricity, water and drainage. Heating is provided by electrical heaters in the office building. There is security via CCTV on site.

EXTERNAL AREAS

The storage and office building sits to one side of a very large plot of around 1.25 acres. The area surrounding the existing store has a level hardcore finish ideal for parking vehicles. Currently the business does use not utilise all of the land and there would be the potential to develop it either to offer personal storage services or erect another building subject to statutory consents. Currently there is space available for the storage of up to 50-60 caravans and boats which supplies a further income stream each week.

DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

This attractive sale presents a number of opportunities to develop the current business further. Whilst already profitable it is considered that development of the existing storage or removals business would be advantageous. Developments could be considered as follows:

• Develop the removals part of the business and use more of the internal space in the building to support this
• Utilising the undeveloped ground to provide storage containers for hire
• Build of further premises on the land
• Replan the layout of the vehicle storage, to make the used of the area more effective.

This list is not exhaustive, and any adjustment would need to be verified by the potential buyer as allowable by the statutory and local authorities.

Specification

• Profitable Removal and Storage business based in Moray
• Modern bespoke industrial unit with offices 
• Prime trading location within the March Road Industrial Estate very close to the A98
• Benefits from high level of recurring storage income
• Well-presented warehouse and office totalling 675m²
• Excellent facilities including kitchen area and W.C.
• Opportunities to extend the current storage option or introduce shipping containers on the spare land
• Substantial recurring secondary income from rental