There is still a learning curve about self-storage for consumers in the United Kingdom. This professionally produced facility tour from U.K. operator Safestore not only shows off one of its modern facilities, it does an excellent job of explaining the company’s full range of storage services while highlighting property amenities, including rentable office space.
iBid4Storage.com, a Toronto-based online marketplace for self-storage auction sellers and bidders, has expanded its platform and services to the United States. The website enables self-storage operators to list an unlimited number of units up for auction each month and links directly to facility websites. Auction buyers with winning bids pay the storage locations directly, company officials said in a press release.
The first American self-storage operator to list its auction units on the website is AAA Sugar House Storage in Salt Lake City. The company, owned by Sugar House Archives & Shred LLC, has 15 units listed.
“One of our operators has sold 200 lockers to date and recovered more than $75,000 in losses in fewer than six months,” said Yehuda Leon Benghiat, president of iBid4Storage.
The service costs $50 per month per location. “We essentially become a technical and human resource within their organization, working for their organization, focused entirely on converting their delinquent space to rentable space as quickly and profitably as possible,” Benghiat added.
Storage operators listing units up for auction can include full descriptions of items as well as photographs and video. Registered bidders can search for lien sales in their area, review the unit contents and descriptions provided by the self-storage facility, and bid online. Winning bids must be paid in full at the storage facility and unit contents removed within 48 hours, according to the website.
Compass Self Storage LLC, a member of the Amsdell family of companies, has acquired Abby’s Storage in Cedar Hill, Texas. The property at 1150 S. U.S. Highway 67 is the company’s first storage facility in Texas and will be rebranded under the Compass name.
The facility comprises 63,000 net rentable square feet and offers drive-up unit access, climate control, outdoor parking, video surveillance, online payment options and a full line of moving and packing supplies. Compass plans to spend approximately $100,000 on capital improvements, company officials said in a press release.
“We look forward to servicing the moving and storage needs of our new customers in Cedar Hill, Texas, with the acquisition of this self-storage center,” said Todd Amsdell, company president.
Company growth is projected to continue in 2014 with the acquisition and development of self-storage properties in select markets, Compass officials said.
Abby’s Storage continues to operate another self-storage facility in Dallas, according to its website.
Headquartered in Cleveland, the Amsdell Cos. draws its roots from the family-owned construction company founded in 1928. Since its inception, the company has been active in several billions of dollars of real estate ventures, with a primary focus on self-storage. It has owned and operated more than 500 storage centers under various trade names in more than 27 states. It currently owns and operates properties in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.
U-Haul International Inc. has opened a new self-storage facility in a former cotton mill in Wake Forest, N.C., and rebranded it as U-Haul Moving and Storage. The property at 9701 Capital Blvd. is the former site of Burlington Mills. The plant opened in 1924 and employed about 200 people who weaved cotton fabrics for flags, curtains and clothing.
The property includes about 35 acres and has several buildings encompassing 324,841 square feet of space. It includes two brick buildings that were once used as an old boiler house and later as a water-filtration plant. The landmark building had been vacant for several years before the U-Haul conversion.
"This building is a landmark facility for both U-Haul and the community," said Paul Smedberg, marketing-company president of U-Haul Company of Raleigh. "I'm proud that we are reusing this historic facility instead of destroying it."
Established in 1945, U-Haul has more than 40 million square feet of storage space at more than 1,000 owned and managed facilities throughout North America.
Space Station Self Storage, which is headquartered Slough, England, and has branches in Brentford, Isleworth and Uxbridge, has launched a removals service for local homeowners and businesses. To celebrate the new offering, the company will move a customer into one of its storage units free of charge if he rents for a minimum of eight weeks and lives within 5 miles of a Space Storage location.
In addition to assisting with self-storage move-ins, Space Station will move business archive boxes, office furniture, stock, equipment, documents, and computer and IT equipment. The company offers a packing service, and sells packing materials and boxes to people who wish to pack their own items.
The removals service will serve the cities of Brentford, Chiswick, Ealing, Isleworth, Slough, Uxbridge, West Drayton and West London.
Founded in 1983, Space Station opened its first facility in Colnbrook, a village of Slough. The company now has five facilities totaling 250,000 square feet of storage space.
Ah, the digital age. Isn’t it glorious? We have technology that allows us to do so much, yet the convenience and freedom afforded by this innovation comes at a cost. For example, have you ever suffered a techno-trauma? You know what I mean … a crashed computer, broken smartphone, lost data, compromised e-mail address … the list goes on. It involves any situation where a technology on which you have come to rely breaks down, causing you far more distress in its malfunction than it ever solved problems in its use.
I recently suffered two such ordeals. One involved a credit card and the other an e-mail account. Both situations created reverberating, ongoing inconvenience and no shortage of aggravation. I want to share them with you because they shed light on a challenge you face every day in attempting to communicate with and serve your self-storage customers.
First, I use a Southwest Airlines Visa card for just about everything. Why? To rack up those flight miles! When I can, I charge it, and pay the bill in full at the end of each month. It’s a sweet arrangement—until you get a call from the Chase Fraud Department telling you a dude in Kentucky just attempted to charge $118 in gas to your card. Thanks to their super-duper fraud-detection technology, they figured out I’m not actually in Kentucky (an astounding deduction, considering I just charged groceries at a Target store in Phoenix less than an hour ago), and they have cancelled my card.
But don’t worry, the rep tells me, a new card will arrive in the mail in seven to 10 business days. Awesome. I’m really excited because now, not only am I out my credit card (and two weeks’ worth of miles), I have to update all the bill accounts tied to the breached card. What’s worse is this is not the first but the fourth time this card has been replaced due to fraud activity in the past year. The rep told me it’s increasingly common, and I should expect (and be grateful) that it will happen again. Apparently, the technology is smart enough to detect fraud after the fact, but not powerful enough to prevent it in the first place.
While I was dealing with all this hassle, I started having trouble with a Cox Communications e-mail account I had been using for more than a decade. After fruitlessly attempting to get help from several company representatives, I decided it was time to succumb to the inevitable and switch to using a Gmail account.
If you haven’t had to transition from a well-established e-mail address to a new one, you don’t know the fun you’re missing. Cancelling and updating subscriptions, notifying your contacts, setting up new folders, updating your info with any company or person with whom you do business, forwarding old correspondence … It’s pure joy. After several weeks, I’m still trying to get all my mail to go to the right place.
But what does this mean to you as a self-storage operator? Your tenants are dealing with similar techno-traumas every day. Things happen in their worlds that cause them to change credit card numbers, e-mail addresses, phone numbers and other vital information on which you rely to serve and get paid by customers.
We hear a lot about the importance of protecting tenant data, and the far-reaching implications of cyber-crime have not been lost on even the most tech-timid business owners. But there’s a flip slide to this coin: Your customers now have incredibly transitory information. How do you ensure you have the most updated contact and payment details? Are you regularly reaching out to tenants to ensure your messages reach their target?
I recently finished reviewing the video footage we captured in the education rooms at the Inside Self-Storage World Expo. In his seminar about self-storage collections, industry trainer and consultant Brad North shared a great strategy for getting customers to participate in a facility’s auto-pay program. He said that by telling them about your “no-late-fee guarantee,” it’s easy to get them to provide a credit card number for payment, which minimizes delinquencies. (You may also have heard this popular phrase from storage guru Bob Copper of Self Storage 101.)
But what do you do if your tenant, like me, has an ever-changing credit card number? And he isn’t diligent about updating it with his creditors? Having to keep up with expiration dates is already a challenge for storage operators; now you may have to start regularly chasing down card numbers, too.
As peoples’ lives change, so can their information. The beauty of cell phones and e-mail is they can provide something of a “home base” for folks even as they switch residences or jobs. The drawback is the technology can be compromised, stolen, lost or broken, creating digital-age challenges for business owners.
This isn’t a new development, but it is an evolving one. The onus is on you to maintain stronger and more consistent contact with customers to ensure you’re top of mind when and if a change is required. Consider an e-mail newsletter that will help you keep an eye on addresses, and connect with your tenants on social media. Another takeaway from Brad’s session: If you can’t contact your customer via the information on the lease agreement, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter can be your saving grace. People often want to be found on these sites, potentially making your job easier.
Have you had trouble keeping tenant information up to date? What do you do to ensure you’re hitting your target when you communicate with tenants or attempt to run payments? Please share your experiences and tips in the comments section below.
All Canadian Self-Storage, which operates five facilities in the Greater Toronto area, will host a fundraising event benefiting children on June 22 at its facility on Dalkeith Drive in Brantford, Ontario. Dubbed “For the Kids Charity Bids,” the auction-style event will be produced by local online networking group In Sync Brant, with proceeds going to support Lansdowne Children's Centre, Nova Vita Domestic Violence Prevention Services and the Brantford Food Bank, according to the source.
The fundraiser will feature “mystery” storage units up for auction as well as a community garage sale, artisan and business vendors, food, and entertainment.
"We decided to do our own version of ‘Storage Wars,’" organizer Valerie Wilson said. "We have more than 260 members representing the small- to medium-sized businesses that help grow our community. This is a chance for our members and others in the community to join us in giving back."
Self-storage owner Dan McGuin approached In Sync Brant about hosting the event. "When [he] suggested it, we knew it was the perfect location to capture the community's support," Wilson said.
All Canadian Self-Storage operates facilities in Brantford, Etobicoke, Scarborough and Toronto. The company also offers mobile- and trailer-storage services.
Neel Kashkari, former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department and a candidate for governor of California, will be the keynote speaker during the 10th annual Self Storage Owners Summit on July 17 at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach, Calif. The event will be hosted by the California Self Storage Association (CSSA) and Talonvest Capital Inc., a boutique real estate adviser serving the self-storage industry.
Kashkari was appointed to the Treasury Department by President George W. Bush in 2006 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate as assistant secretary in 2008. The Republican gubernatorial candidate received the Treasury’s highest honor, the Alexander Hamilton Award, for his leadership in overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, designed to implement programs to stabilize the financial system during the economic crisis of 2008.
Kashkari returned to California in 2009 to work for Pacific Investment Management Co. LLC (PIMCO), a global investment-management firm headquartered in Newport Beach. He led PIMCO’s equities group until January 2013, when he left the firm to explore a return to public service, according to his official website.
The summit will begin at 10:30 a.m., and Kashkari will speak at noon. The event will also include discussions on California’s Proposition 13, a tax-limiting measure passed by voters in 1978, and a session titled “Entitlement, Development & Construction in Today’s Market.” There will be specific times for self-storage owners to network, a private owners panel and a cocktail party.
Founded in 2010 and based in Orange County, Calif., Talonvest structures debt and equity for self-storage and commercial real estate investors and developers nationwide. The principals of the firm have more than 80 years of combined experience.
CSSA is a nonprofit trade association dedicated to supporting the self-storage industry in California. The group offers educational events, networking opportunities, legislative advocacy and more.
Inside Self-Storage is now collecting information for its 2014 Buyer’s Guide, the industry's largest, most comprehensive directory of product and service suppliers. Containing hundreds of listings from the most respected self-storage vendors, the Buyer’s Guide allows users to search by company name, product/service category or geographic region. It also includes a directory of self-storage associations. Listings include detailed information such as company descriptions and websites as well as phone numbers and other critical contact information.
Participation in the guide is free for users and suppliers. Published each year in the August print edition of ISS magazine, it’s available year round on the ISS website under “Directories” in the top navigation bar.
To be listed in the guide, suppliers need to complete the online form. If a company has been included in past guides, it can simply revise its existing listing rather than submit a new one. Companies new to the Buyer’s Guide can create a new listing. The form is found at http://buyersguide.insideselfstorage.com/BGWebForm_login.asp?gid=11.
Questions about the 2014 ISS Buyer’s Guide can be directed to ISS Editor Amy Campbell at [email protected]. Submissions for the print edition will be accepted no later than June 2.
Janus International Corp., a manufacturer of self-storage roll-up doors and building components, plans to open its first Midwest manufacturing facility in Butler, Ind. The company began designing the facility about a year, which will include converting an existing building.
The new plant will encompass a 43,000-square-foot building and bring about 50 new jobs to the area. Slated to open in late summer, it will be Janus’ fourth U.S. manufacturing facility. Self-storage and commercial door models will be manufactured and shipped from the new location.
Janus will invest $650,000 to lease, equip and renovate the Butler facility. As part of the project, the company will receive a $475,000 Economic Development for a Growing Economy tax credit from the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
The Northeast Indiana location was selected for its proximity to local steel mills and its labor-stable environment. It will also offer more attractive freight terms for Midwest and Northeast area customers, according to a company press release.
“We are excited to have a physical presence in the Midwest,” said President and CEO David Curtis. “The closer proximity to a large body of commercial and self-storage clients will offer them greater access and definite savings due to reduced freight costs.”
Janus is a manufacturer of rolling doors and building components for the self-storage, commercial and industrial markets. Headquartered in Temple, Ga., Janus has eight locations globally, including a joint venture in Mexico.
