Self-storage operator StorageMart has purchased a facility in Laval, Quebec, Canada, comprising 29,075 rentable square feet in 484 units. Formerly known as Multi Espaces Entrepots, the property has been rebranded under the StorageMart name.

Located in Montreals largest suburb, the facility features perimeter fencing, PIN-controlled gates, bright lighting and video monitoring. It offers drive-in, covered loading and unloading areas and 24-hour access. Storage options include parking areas for boats and RVs and climate-controlled units. A full line of moving and packing supplies is also available.

With the acquisition, StorageMart now operates two self-storage facilities in Laval and five in the Greater Montreal area. Headquartered in Columbia, Mo., the company has more than 130 self-storage locations across the United States and Canada.

Bahrains first self-storage facility, A2D Storage, started more than two years ago by three female entrepreneurs, is thriving in the community of Aali. Dalal Bucheery, Doa'a Essa Abdul Wahab and Alia Murad were close friends who had previously worked together when they recognized an untapped market for storage. The three partners had respective backgrounds in accounting, business management and marketing, and quality systems auditing, and all of them were having trouble finding someplace to store their excess personal property.

We are all married with children, Bucheery said. And we find that things accumulate in a matter of months! In fact, throughout their life, people amass an amazing quantity of objects. The problem arises when they dont have enough space in their home, but at the same time, they are reluctant to part with items.

Eyeing a business opportunity to fill this void, the women conducted a feasibility study and visited self-storage facilities in Dubai. Their research in Bahrain revealed a promising market for the business model, in part because of a large number of expatriates, foreign workers and students who were familiar with self-storage services.

Investing about $212,000 of their own money and securing bank financing, the partners launched A2D in December 2010 in Aali, a residential area close to a school district. Unlike other storage facilities in the region that operate in remote areas or industrial complexes, A2D opened near a major highway and today serves residential and commercial customers, and offers records storage services.

The facility offers 44 units ranging from 66 to 130 square feet. Each unit has adjustable and portable partitions enabling customers to expand or contract the space as needed. Units are also equipped with individual fire extinguishers and a fire sprinkler. Customers have 24-hour access to the facility.

Despite a learning curve for the native Bahraini population, the company has reached local customers through marketing brochures, meeting with local organizations and even appearing on television. Being three women in an industry and region dominated by men has not been much of a challenge, the partners said.

Encouraged by its success, A2D has met with other self-storage companies in the region to discuss collaborative opportunities that could lead to expansion.

U.K. self-storage operator LoknStore Group PLC announced financial results for the first half of its fiscal year, which ended Jan. 31. Revenue during the period increased 2.2 percent from the previous year, and occupancy rose 6.1 percent year over year. The company attributed the gains in part to the effects of the 20 percent value-added tax (VAT) imposed last October on self-storage facilities across the United Kingdom. While some operators have been negatively impacted by the VAT, LoknStore was already compliant with the tax.

This compares to last year when occupancy was down 0.3 percent in this traditionally weaker period, company officials said. Since the implementation of the VAT on self-storage on Oct. 1, new move-ins at LoknStore are up 12.4 percent compared to the same period the previous year.

"The harmonization of VAT across the U.K. self-storage sector has benefited Lok'nStore with our major competitors having to register for VAT, while our own business was already VAT-compliant, said Andrew Jacobs, CEO. Activity levels across the portfolio have been robust, reflected by our strong occupancy growth of 6.1 percent year on year. We expect this to continue into the second half and into the next financial year.

Part of the companys optimism is tied to the opening of two new locations during the next year. By the end of 2014, LoknStore expects to have 13 freehold sites, nine leasehold sites and three managed stores in its portfolio.

Lok'nStore currently operates 22 self-storage facilities in Southeast England. The company builds, buys or leases large warehouses or industrial buildings and rents storage units to customers on a weekly basis. Around 60 percent of the company's 7,000 customers are residential and 40 percent are commercial. LoknStore has more than 920,000 square feet of net rentable space, which is evenly split between freehold and leasehold.

Self-storage owners James and Nell Sheppard were recently honored for their longtime service to the community of Port Neches, Texas. Long before the couple opened Sheps Self Storage, they were well-known for running an iconic burger joint called Sheps Drive-in. The Sheppards closed the drive-in in 1989 after 30 years but have remained visible through the storage business and working with local organizations and their church.

"Before the landscape was dotted with chains such as McDonald's, Dairy Queen and Jack in the Box, they owned and operated Port Neches' iconic Sheps Drive-in, the meeting place for Mid-County teenagers exiting a movie and the final destination of the evening for young drivers making the drag," said local resident John DeVillier.

The Sheppards were recently honored during a special event at Port Acres KC Hall, where they were presented with a patriotic painting. The subject matter was appropriate because both have long been active in the VFW [Veterans of Foreign Wars] in leadership roles," DeVillier said. "It was a tribute to their impact on the community."

Both are members of the Wayne F. East VFW Post 4820, where James is quarter master, and the Lady's Auxiliary, where Nell is president. The Sheppards also are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in nearby Port Arthur. "We do house teaching. We visit members that are ill, spiritual things," Nell said.

Now in their 80s, the Sheppards have been married for 65 years and have three children, eight grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

The following is part of an exciting 2013 content series titled "What Would You Do?" ISS asked managers and owners how they would react in difficult situations that can arise at any facility. We then asked experts to advise on their recommended course of action. To see all articles and slideshows in the series, enter code WWYD13 in the search box at insideselfstorage.com. The complete sequence will roll out over several weeks and be available in full by March 10, 2013.

While there are many elements behind the success of a self-storage facility, industry experts know a management team with customer-service savvy is what keeps a facility in top-notch status. Customer service is one of the easiest and most effective ways to one-up your competitors. It ensures tenants are happy with your facility and will have them talking about you, which will bring in more tenants. An advertisement may bring a customer through your door, but good customer service will keep him there.

When it comes to service, facility employees must be prepared to handle the most delicate situations on a moment's notice. An unprepared or poorly-equipped manager can send a potential rental to the competition, or escalate emotions in a conversation with an upset tenant instead of directing the conversation toward a resolution. When customer-service issues arise, do you have a plan of action? Is what you would do the same as what you should do?

Inside Self-Storage got the inside scoop from professionals in the field to learn how they would proceed in specific but common situations that could happen any time at any facility. They were asked "What would you do if ...?"

• You simultaneously got a phone call and walk-in customer?
• You didnt have a unit size a customer needed?
• A tenant filed a complaint against you, a co-worker or another customer?

The answers were provided by members of Self-Storage Talk, the industry's largest online community. We then asked professionals from self-storage management companies to tell us what operators should do in each case. Our well-known experts are Linnea Appleby, president of Lime Tree Management in Sarasota, Fla.; Anne Ballard, president of training, marketing and developmental services for Universal Storage Group in Smyrna, Ga.; and Kevin Bledsoe, district manager for Storage Asset Management in York, Pa.

What would you do if you simultaneously got a phone call and walk-in customer?

Gina Six Kudo (Gina6k), an SST moderator and general manager for Cochrane Road Self Storage in Morgan Hill, Calif., uses the often-quoted idiom, A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, meaning the walk-in customer usually trumps the one on the phone. Always take care of the person standing in front of you first, she says. It is something called common courtesy.

SST member StrongTeam agrees, but also notes its usually OK to excuse yourself for a moment to answer the phone and take a number so you can return the call later. Just dont forget to make the call, Kudo says.

Another tip, from an anonymous manager in Oklahoma, is to consider hiring a call center to handle rollovers when youre busy or out of the office. They are able to help the customer as well as I can, being able to both schedule truck rentals, assist with storage supply sales, and even rent my units using the exact same software I am using. They are the on-call employee, pun intended.

What SHOULD you do?

Appleby: If a call center is in place, let the call go to them, and assist the walk-in customer. If not, acknowledge both and politely let one know you are assisting the other and will be with them shortly.

Ballard: Answer the phone and make a hand motion of acknowledgement to the walk-in, letting him know hes been seen and you will be with him shortly. Maybe hand him something to read, motion toward the coffee bar or to have a seat, and you will be right with him as soon as possible.

Bledsoe: The walk-in customer would be our No. 1 priority in this instance, and we would allow the call to roll over to our call center for assistance.

What would you do if you didnt have a unit size a customer needed?

You should never lose a potential tenant simply because the requested unit size is unavailable, our experts say. Go to the next size up, or maybe two smaller spaces to equal the size the customer needs. Just find a way to supply what they need, advises Bob Taylor (astro), an SST moderator and facility manager of Blue Ridge Self Storage in Cashiers, N.C.

For most operators, there are a number of solutions, including combining units, upsizing or downsizing or adding the customer to a short waiting list, says Robert Madsen (Madman), an SST moderator and president of U-Lock Mini Storage in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Most important, we don't want to say flat out no and force them to go elsewhere to work on their storage solutions on their own.

Not only is this a great customer-service opportunity, but also a time when a discount might come into play. I'd offer the customer the next size up at a discounted rate, says Satyra From PhoneSmart, an SST senior member.

What SHOULD you do?

Appleby: Figure out a way to satisfy the need and get the business. If weve got a unit to rent and they have money, we can work something out. That is what we are here for.

Ballard: Since we are the pros and know all about our competition, we would place them with a competitor, calling to confirm they had the size and price and letting them know we are sending them a customer. The customer will be so impressed that, when they rent again, we usually get them back to us.

Bledsoe: We would attempt to find two units that are close to each other and offer the same amount of space between two units at the same rate. If the customer needs a smaller unit and we dont have the size available, we would try to find a unit with low occupancy and offer that unit at the same rate or at a slightly discounted rate. Ideally, we would try to offer the tenant a unit that we do have in stock, and we may make some deeper concession to rent them that unit.

What would you do if a tenant filed a complaint against you, a co-worker or another customer?

Richard and Beverly Haessler (RichardandBeverly), SST members and resident managers at Park Inn Storage in Odessa, Texas, disclose that their owner has received two complaints about them. They called the owner ahead of time to explain the situation. The owner said he felt bad that we had to deal with such people. End of problem. Both [customers] were given 15-day-to-vacate notices. One called the owner back and wanted to stay, but he said he would stand by our decision.

As the facility owner, SST senior member geraldine1051 says she hasnt come across this scenario yet. But she knows exactly what shed do if it ever happens: I would suggest the customer take his belongings to another facility. And if that tenant needed a police escort, that could easily be arranged.

However, she has had complaints from one tenant about another. In these instances, geraldine1051 says shes spoken with the offending tenant about altering his behavior. Usually, thats all it takes.

What SHOULD you do?

Appleby: This depends on the nature of the complaint. It should be handled according to company policy. If needed, contact your attorney.

Bledsoe: A complaint filed against any employee would never be directly handled by that person. The complaint would go directly to his supervisor, and that persons supervisor would contact that customer to discuss the issue. The supervisor would then work with the employee to resolve the problem.

A complaint filed against another customer can obviously be tricky. From time to time, this sort of thing happens, and typically we work with the complaining customer to find out what the problem might be. Sometimes we can resolve the problem by moving tenants to units that arent close to each other on the property. We work with the person filing the complaint to exhaust all efforts for resolution before we go to the person theyre complaining about.

To read more great content in the ISS "What Would You Do?" business-challenges series, type code WWYD13 in the search box at insideselfstorage.com.

The U-Haul Co. recently purchased two self-storage facilities comprising more than 127,000 square feet of net rentable space in 1,020 storage units. The facilities are in Louisiana and Michigan. No financial terms were disclosed.

The acquired self-storage facilities are:

Storage Post Self-Storage
2350 Brooklyn Ave., Harvey, La.
Eight two-story and six single-story buildings (46,950 square feet of rentable space in 591 units)

Turn Key Self Storage
12750 31 Mile Road, Washington, Mich.
One two-story and nine single-story buildings (80,500 square feet of rentable space in 429 units)

Established in 1945, U-Haul has 36 million square feet of storage space at more than 1,000 owned and managed facilities throughout North America. The company recently completed the acquisition of additional self-storage facilities in Colorado, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas.

California self-storage operator A-1 Self Storage recently donated money to Saint Madeleine Sophies Center (SMSC), a non-denominational, vocational day program in El Cajon, Calif., that serves more than 400 adults with developmental disabilities.

SMSC began in 1966 by serving preschoolers with disabilities and changed its focus to adults in 1972. Its mission is to help its students work through the daily challenges of finding fulfillment and happiness; and battle obstacles such as prejudice, discrimination, and society's misconceptions. The center also strives to educate the public about the realities of developmental disabilities.

Saint Madeleine Sophies was a place my siblings and I served at every summer while growing up. said Brian Caster, president of A-1 Self Storage. The kids we cared for were intelligent, witty and memorable! They made a lasting impact on our lives. We are proud supporters of SMSC.

A-1 Self Storage has 17 locations in the San Diego County area and more than 40 locations statewide. It is the self-storage division of the Caster Cos., a third-generation, family-owned company headquartered in Southern California since 1959. Caster Cos. develops and manages A-1 Self Storage, A-1 Car Storage and other commercial properties in California. Its portfolio includes more than 4 million square feet of real estate.

A new service has developed within the self-storage industry: online auctions. I'm not referring to services that place online advertising for your live, onsite lien sales. An online auction actually opens up your lien sales to the entire Web by allowing bidders to register, view sales at your facility, and participate in a sale that occurs online.

Before a self-storage operator explores this new offering, he should consider the pros and cons as well as the legalities involved.

Pros

One of the most obvious advantages to using an online-auction service is people can attend several sales in multiple locations at the same time. This has the potential to allow self-storage operatorseven those with only a few units in liento draw the kind of high-paying buyers that will generally only attend a sale with multiple units or a facility in an affluent neighborhood.

Other operators enjoy that they dont have to open the gate and allow people to walk around their property and scope it out; nor do they have to delay the sale while everyone gets their chance to look into the unit.

Youre also potentially dealing with a more secure method of getting paid. In theory, buyers have pre-registered with the auction service and have a credit card on filenot to pay the winning bid, but to pay the bidders premium to the online-auction service. However, should the buyer fail to collect his goods, you may have a credit card against which you can charge for the expenses you incur for reselling the unit. In addition, there are more backup bidders registered in case your initial sale doesnt properly consummate.

Cons

Of course, there are also disadvantages to using an online-auction service, not the least of which is the winning bidder may fail to appear and collect his property or pay you after the auction is won. I mean, how realistic is it that a winning bidder in Kansas is going to drive to Georgia for a 5-by-5 unit on which he euphorically bid but then got buyers remorse?

With an online auction, you have a little less control over the quality of the cleanout and removal of the property. You also have less negotiating power with the buyer if something was sold in the auction that that shouldn't have been. There are also some who contend that you never get as much for the property online as you could get during the excitement of a live, face-to-face public sale or auction.

The final obvious disadvantage of using an online-auction service is youre posting pictures of goods that will not be sold for a period of time; you might also be posting unit numbers. If there is exciting property in the unit, it might be attractive to potential thieves. This is vastly different than unveiling a unit and its contents at a live auction.

Legalities

The real crux of the issue is whether its legal to have an online sale in your state. A lot of self-storage statutes are creatures of the '70s and '80s. While many states are updating these laws, one section thats not being addressed in most states is the one that requires that a sale occur at the facility or the nearest suitable location, or that operators provide in the notice a specific date, time and location for the sale. If one of these two requirements is in your state statute, you probably shouldnt use online auctions.

There are 19 states in which the statutes do not contain these requirements. In these states, online sales would appear to be possible. In the others, you must at least question whether its possible to have a legal online sale because of these restrictive requirements.

The original reasons for requiring that sales take place at the self-storage facilities themselves and that operators give notice of the time, place and date of sale appear to have been:

• So the tenant would know the drop dead moment by which he could pay, redeem his property and avoid a sale.
• In most states, to give the tenant the opportunity to be present at the sale and bid on his unit, even if he won it for less than he owed.
• To allow the tenant to know who bought the unit so he could potentially repurchase some important pieces of property without having to pay for the whole lot.

Statutes in approximately 30 states are not sufficiently up to speed for me to be comfortable that online lien sales, although potentially fetching higher dollars, meet the statutes' current requirements.

Online-Auction Services

If youre going to use an online-auction service and youre in one of the states that has one of the statute requirements referenced above, make sure the auction provider has taken all possible precautions to leave you a way to pull a sale up to the final second before a winning bidder is determined. There should also be provisions to delay a sale in the event theres a controversy. You must also take your own precautions to ensure someone is available to see the tenant arrive at the time and place of the cyber sale and stop proceedings if necessary.

Its questionable whether online self-storage sales are really legally permissible in about 30 states. Its probably the example of a better mouse trap around which the laws have not yet grown up. It just isn't absolutely clear that online auctions are legal and permissible in the self-storage application.

For now, if youre in a state with restrictive statute requirements and you're interested in an online-auction service, ask a lot of questions and understand that no provider is going to guarantee that an online sale is legal in your state. You may feel youre reducing a lot of stress and business problems by going to online auctions, but understand that youre also taking a calculated risk.

Disclaimer: Jeffrey Greenberger is legal counsel for Storage Battles, an online-auction service serving the self-storage industry. This column is for the purpose of providing general legal insight into the self-storage industry and should not be substituted for the advice of your own attorney.

Jeffrey J. Greenberger is a partner with the law firm of Katz Greenberger & Norton LLP in Cincinnati and is licensed to practice in Kentucky and Ohio. Mr. Greenberger primarily represents the owners and operators of commercial real estate, including self-storage owners and operators. To reach him, call 513.721.5151; visit www.selfstoragelegal.com.

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Insider Insight to Online Auctions

Inside Self-Storage asked Jim Grant, president and CEO of StorageBattles.com, an online-auction website serving self-storage businesses, for insight to the process.

What happens if a buyer doesnt remove the property from the facility after winning the bid?

To ensure proper cleanout and removal of the property, a cleaning deposit is taken by the facility before allowing access to the auctioned unit. Upon satisfactory cleanup, the deposit is returned. It has been hypothesized about what would happen if the winning bidder does not pick up his belongings. The storage facility can choose to do one of three things:

• Accept the second highest bidder, which is usually within $10 of the winning bid
• Reschedule the auction
• Charge the bidder's credit card for the full amount of the winning bid, with the proceeds being sent to the storage facility as payment

At StorageBattles.com, the bidder would be subject for removal from participating, and the storage facility would treat the unit as forfeited.

How do you address seller concerns that providing photos of unit contents in advance of the sale could potentially attract thieves?

We dont think having the pictures online attract thieves. Weve never had a problem with a break-in after conducting the thousands of auctions weve had. Maybe its because a storage facility does have security, whether it be perimeter walls, gates, cameras, door alarms, access codes, locks on the units or management.

A list of items must be stated in the notifications ahead of time, either in an online auction or onsite auction. After a unit's lock is cut at an onsite auction and the people can see the items, does that entice the losing bidders to come back and break in? Probably not.

Also, it would be difficult to know which unit the product is in, as the unit number is not listed on the Web page. The facility enters the unit number into the system so it can track the sale, but it is not listed on the Web page. The buyer only knows the unit number after he wins the unit and pays for it in cash at the facility.

On another note, while talking about security, online auctions are much more secure for all the buyers. At a live auction, people show up with thousands of dollars in cash, as that is the requirement for purchasing a unit. We see them on Storage Wars flashing all that money. Eventually, someone is going to show up and either rob the entire crowd or follow someone out of the parking lot and rob him as he drives home. With online auctions, the only person who shows up to pay for the unit with cash at the facility is the buyer, and no one knows when this will be except the facility manager.

Stor-All Systems Inc., which operates self-storage facilities under the Stor-All Storage name, has launched a rebranding campaign using the new tagline, Personally Yours. The slogan has been added to the traditional purple-and-green Stor-All logo and will stand alone on company-branded uniforms, apparel and accessories.

Our original tagline reflected our promise to help our guests solve their life challenges by providing authentic service and clean, friendly and convenient storage solutions, said Jeff Anderson, managing partner. While this tagline has served us well, we couldnt help but note that similar variations of the phrase Clean, Friendly and Convenient have become commonplace in the self-storage industry. This led to our decision to create a new tagline.

Company officials said Personally Yours is about people and reflects Stor-Alls commitment to its customers and employees. The tagline makes it clear that Stor-All cares about each individual, and offers personalized customer service that isnt typical in any industry let alone the storage industry, officials said in a press release. The warmth of the line provides emotional support for Stor-Alls promise: We give ourselves to our staff and to our customers, and make a personal commitment to everything we do.

Founded in 1967, Stor-All Storage operates facilities in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia from its headquarters in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The company also provides real estate brokerage, asset selection, underwriting, construction, development, property management and investor-relations services to its individual investment partnerships.

Duke Realty Corp. announced it will include a 500-unit self-storage facility in Anson, the companys 1,700-acre, mixed-use development Northwest of Indianapolis. Scheduled to open in July, Self-Storage at Anson will be developed by Revel & Underwood on a 4-acre parcel in the developments business district. The facility will offer only interior units, including some climate-controlled, ranging in size from 50 to 250 square feet.

"This facility will be the first in this submarket to offer non-climate controlled units, an option that many people have wanted for items that don't require a heated or cooled environment," said Craig Anderson, vice president of leasing and general manager of Anson.

The storage property is the third new commercial development along Central Boulevard in Anson in the past six months.

"This new self-storage facility will expand the conveniences available to Anson residents and the surrounding communities of Whitestown and Zionsville," said Charlie Podell, senior vice president of Duke Realty's Indiana operations. "The addition of these units, along with other recent businesses moving into Anson, are testament to the growing appeal of this inclusive community where people can find the services they need for their busy lifestyles nearby."

"The residential growth in Anson over the past year has been strong, making this a great location for self-storage units," added Rory Underwood, owner of Revel & Underwood. "People moving into the new apartments, townhomes and single-family homes in Anson will now have an extremely convenient place to store their excess goods. This state-of-the-art, secured facility will allow individuals and businesses to safely store their items."

The master-planned development includes a variety of housing options, including apartments, townhouses and single-family homes, as well as retail, places of worship, schools, medical facilities and recreational areas. There also will be a commercial district with 7.4 million square feet of business/distribution space.

Duke Realty owns and operates more than 145 million rentable square feet of industrial and office assets in 18 major U.S. cities.