Self Storage in the USA
The early self-storage entrepreneurs in the USA during the 1970’s came from a broad spectrum of life. One, for instance, was a young teacher who had nowhere to store his stuff during one summer vacation so the following summer he decided to open a store for people like himself and charge them a rent. Thus, self-storage was borne.
The first hurdle for these self-storage pioneers was to find a building in which to carry through their ideas. Affordability of buildings was a significant first hurdle to overcome. The conundrum was that a self-storage entrepreneur without funds could not easily raise the finance to buy a building and fit it out. The alternative was to persuade an owner to grant a lease but again, this was not easy because the entrepreneur himself represented a significant risk; he had no money, no track record, sceptical potential investors because the idea hadn’t been tested and last, but not least, wary banks incredulous that any one person might want to rent a room in a large shed when garages, sheds or basements represented credible and cheaper short term solutions.
Well, the pioneers persisted. Some owners of large old multi-storey buildings and which were poorly located, sited or configured were beginning to face up to the fact that their buildings were beginning to represent a problem. The new technology industries wanted smart new buildings in park environments whereas these buildings were poorly sited and were decaying so potential repair costs represented a ticking time bomb. Alternative uses in a hostile urban environment were out of the question. The possibility of a deal with a self-storage operator therefore represented a new solution to an old problem.
1st generation stores
The typical 1st generation self-storage in the USA was therefore commonly to be found in an area of urban decay, in a cheap, decaying building located in an intimidating environment, often with a leaking roof and nowhere near a potential customer’s home or place of work, and hard to find. And yet, the customers started to come. The newly divorced and recently bereaved who needed time before clearing stuff out, the house mover; in fact, anybody trying to manage its space requirements.
The 1980’s – better quality and more convenient stores
It did not take long for the ever resourceful American entrepreneur to realise that, if the building could be sited closer to the potential customer in a less intimidating environment, there was a strong likelihood that the potential customer would not travel to find a solution. It was clear that the increasingly affluent, American consumer was interested in convenience and was willing to pay for it.
In this way, the 2nd generation stores in refurbished, better quality buildings in less hostile environments started to appear especially as funding became easier during the 1980’s.
Over time, the increasingly sophisticated consumer sought new purpose built storage centres and the size of the investment demanded better quality, high visibility locations which are the 3rd generation buildings.
