As a high-flying architect who is tuned to effective use of space, former East Londoner Bryce Henderson was inspired by his travels to launch a luggage storage facility for Cape Town’s tourism market.
Named Bag Drop, savvy service means tourists to the Mother City need not lug their baggage around with them during gaps in accommodation or transport arrangements.
Thanks to Henderson’s nifty idea, travellers can now lock their belongings into sleek orange lockers and be on their way, knowing their luggage is safely stowed while they get on with sight-seeing.
“I saw the gap for tourists that are using services like Airbnb, which are located in normal suburbs and apartment buildings that don’t necessarily offer the concierge services of a hotel,” said Henderson, 26, who matriculated from Hudson Park High before studying architecture at Nelson Mandela University. He graduated with a Master’s in architecture in Barcelona, Spain.
“Airbnb guests are required to check out by 10am in order for the host to service the apartment in time for a new check-in at 3pm.
“This, coupled with un-co-ordinated flight or bus departures, often leaves guests with a few hours to kill, and because people are now using Uber or MyCiti buses rather than hiring cars, they need Bag Drop so that they can safely store their items while they explore the city bag-free.”
As an Airbnb host himself, Henderson is plugged into the day-to-day needs of the thousands of visitors Cape Town attracts every day.
“The idea developed from my own needs as an Airbnb host of two years as well as needing similar services while travelling Europe.”
Although a similar facility exists at Cape Town International Airport that allows travellers in transit to store luggage, Henderson’s locker initiative, which launched in August, is aimed at inner-city tourists.
Since the dynamic young entrepreneur works full-time as a registered professional architect for TAG Design – having cut his teeth at the prestigious Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects (SATOA) – opening a new business has required some creative time juggling.
“In my first two months I fulfilled my role as an architect from the Bag Drop premises in the City Bowl, juggling my architecture work and meetings between check-ins and check-outs, but I’ve since trained a sales assistant to take over the role.”..