A freeway bridge-widening project on Interstate 5 above Swain Road in Stockton, Calif., is five months behind schedule and has rankled local residents and businesses, including Mister Space Self Storage. Facility manager James Webb estimates the road construction has cost Mister Space at least $20,000 in lost rentals and merchandise sales.

[Customers] absolutely hate it, he said. As for new customers, Ive had a couple people tell me its too inconvenient.

Closed since last October, the Swain Road underpass in the only direct roadway connecting motorists to either side of I-5 for more than a mile between March Lane and Benjamin Holt Drive. The project was supposed to be completed by the end of February, but crews were forced to relocate utility lines, according to Caltrans, the states department of transportation. The projected date of completion is now the end of July.

Mister Space has been in business for 41 years. Webb told the source he is considering filing a claim with the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board once the project is finished.

A vacant warehouse in Key West, Fla., that formerly housed a beer distributorship has been converted into a self-storage facility featuring 501 units. Choice Storage Center, which opened in late March, was repurposed from the Silver Eagle beer-distribution center on N. Roosevelt Boulevard.

After closing the business in 2006, the buildings owner, Charlie Acevedo, tried selling or renting the building, but had few offers. After a friend suggested turning the building into a self-storage facility, Acevedo, along with business partner Ramon Oyarzun, conducted a market study and found a need for self-storage in the area.

The three-story Choice Storage Center offers climate-controlled units in 39 sizes, ranging from small cubbies to large units. The facility also has outside parking for cars, boats, trailers or RVs. In addition to storage, the business offers packing and moving supplies and will accept business deliveries on behalf of its customers.

Self-storage operator Milts Mini Storage is developing its 11th facility in the Omaha, Neb., market. Construction will begin in late July.

Located off W. Maple Road at 147th Street, the new facility is slated to open in late 2013 or early 2014, property manager Beth Gallegos told the source. The self-storage property will include 12 buildings, one of which will offer climate-controlled units. It will also feature a residence for an onsite manager.

Milt's Mini Storage is a family-owned business that has been providing self-storage to the Omaha metropolitan area since 1974. The company offers units in a range of sizes from 5-by-5 to 12-by-30, and sells packing and moving supplies in its retail office.

Austin, Texas-based SpareFoot, which provides an online marketplace for self-storage customers, has been named one of the "Best Places to Work in Central Texas" by the "Austin Business Journal." The company was one of 20 finalists in the category for mid-size businesses that have from 51 to 250 employees. Awards were distributed June 6 during a luncheon at the Renaissance Austin Hotel.

SpareFoot and other employers were evaluated on criteria including team effectiveness, retention risk, alignment with goals, people practices, individual contributions, manager effectiveness, trust in senior leaders, trust with co-workers, feeling valued and work engagement. Each category was measured by employee satisfaction through confidential surveys conducted by Quantum Workplace.

SpareFoot co-founder and CEO Chuck Gordon said he was honored and overjoyed to receive the award. It means a lot to SpareFoot and to me personally. We spend a significant amount of time and energy trying to be an amazing place to work, where our tight-knit group of brilliant people change the (storage) world every day," he said.

Founded in 2008, SpareFoot.com helps consumers find and reserve self-storage units, with comparison shopping tools that show real-time availability and exclusive deals. With a network of more than 6,500 storage facilities ranging from mom-and-pop operations to real estate investment trusts, the company reaches prospective storage renters though partnerships with brands including SelfStorage.com, Apartments.com and Penske Truck Rental. It also provides Web-marketing solutions for storage facility owners and operators including AdNetwork, SiteBuilder and GeoPages.

Update on 07/01/13 Trindle Self Storage/The UPS Store raised $1,825 for Project SHARE during its Community Day Charity Event and grand opening on June 15. The combination self-storage facility and UPS store in Carlisle, Pa., also collected about 100 donated canned food items. The event included games, raffles, auctions and vendors.

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Trindle Self Storage/The UPS Store, a combination self-storage facility and UPS store in Carlisle, Pa., will hold a grand-opening charity event on June 15 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The community event will include free food and beverages, childrens games and activities, more than 45 local vendors, a three-hour zumbathon, and raffle drawings. There will also be four storage-unit auctions.

Community members and their pets are invited to attend. The price of admission is one canned-food donation per person. All proceeds raised during the event will be donated to Project SHARE (Survival Help And Recipient Education), a local, interfaith cooperative involving more than 66 congregations, schools and civic organizations. The group uses contributions of food, money and volunteerism to provide basic assistance to more than 1,000 families each month..

A local radio station will also broadcast live from the facility and give away prizes including NASCAR tickets and pit passes.

Located at 1755 W. Trindle Road, the self-storage facility is owned by Steve Rose and managed by Storage Asset Management, which went through a 90-day training program to become a UPS Store Certified Primary Operator. Through its UPS store, the facility offers domestic and international shipping services, notary services, mailbox rental, faxing, copying and finishing services, digital printing, secure document shredding, and a full line of packing and shipping supplies.

StorQuest Self Storage, an operator with facilities throughout Arizona, California, Colorado and Hawaii, has created a video series for its website designed to educate customers on how they can use self-storage to manage unexpected life events. To create the Solve It With StorQuest videos, the company partnered with Justin Klosky, a professional organizer and founder of the O.C.D. Experience, a program created to help people find clarity in their lives through simple organizational practices and disciplines.

The video campaign focuses on three common life transitions: merging two households, maximizing office space and protecting ones valuables.

Transition in life can cause a lot of stress, especially as it relates to effectively managing ones possessions. Our website and video series provide helpful tips for how to organize, pack and properly protect your household, business or valuable items, said Bill Hobin, president and CEO of William Warren Group (WWG), StorQuests parent company. Justins organizational expertise and the ease with which he imparts space-management best practices will help any person or business better understand how to approach their transition.

In a video called How to Merge Two Households, Klosky offers tips on how to outline a step-by-step plan to take inventory, set aside sentimental items and minimize the storage of duplicate belongings. He also gives tips on how to optimally organize a self-storage unit.

Another video titled How to Maximize Office Space provides organizational tips for businesses to help create more space for employees and eliminate clutter. Klosky discusses the importance of taking inventory of all stored files, furniture or electronics and designating a storage manager in the office to oversee a companys storage needs. He also details climate-controlled considerations.

A third video, Protecting Your Personal Treasures, outlines how to properly store sentimental items with care. Klosky addresses how to take inventory, purchase the right storage containers, arrange items for easy access, and evaluate when to get an insurance policy to protect valuables.

StorQuest is the operating trade name of self-storage properties owned and operated by WWG, a privately held real estate company that develops, acquires and operates income-producing real estate assets.

Space Station Self Storage in Slough, England, is celebrating 30 years in business  by giving away two prizes on its social-media channels. For a chance to win, customers are being asked to share their favorite memories of 1983, the year the company began, on the companys Facebook or Twitter page.

The first prize is a 30th anniversary edition Swatch Est. 1983 watch. The second prize is tickets to the Nov. 9 rugby match between England and Argentina at Twickenham Stadium. Entries for the first prize must be submitted by July 31. Entries for the second must be received by Aug. 31.

In addition, Space Station is asking customers to offer name suggestions for the companys elephant mascot. Ideas will be accepted from Sept. 16 until Nov. 30, with the best one being chosen as the new name.

Customers interested in participating in any of the campaigns should visit facebook.com/spacestation.uk or twitter.com/spacestationuk. Twitter entries should use hashtag #SS30.

Space Station Self Storage began in Colnbrook, England, with a series of storage containers. The company now has five traditional self-storage facilities.

By David Nathan

There are several definitions for the word branding. In business, we tend to think of branding as the use of a trademark or product name identifiable to a specific company. Branding is also thought of as a way to make an impression on a consumers mind. Effective branding will create familiarity, confidence and even loyalty.

But lets look at the literal definition of brandingthat is, to mark with a hot iron. A hot iron? This specific definition usually refers to how people physically display ownership of cattle. (The cows reference was inevitable. Youll see why later.) Both uses of branding are inherently the same. In both cases, the desired result is an indelible mark thats recognizable.

Within the self-storage industry, certain brands exist that glow like a red-hot branding iron in the minds of most Americans. Consider Public Storage Inc., U-Haul International Inc. and PODS, just to name a few. I feel comfortable stating, without any research or polling, that most Americans are familiar with these companys brands whether or not theyve ever actually used their services.

These super-branded companies use multi-million dollar ad budgets along with their giant physical presence to promote their brands. Have you ever heard people refer to traditional brick-and-mortar storage facilities as public storage regardless of the actual company name? I have, many times. This is similar to the way people refer to any little stick with cotton on both ends as a Q-Tip. Branding like this is iconic and even creates monetary value. Those big companies have whole departments dedicated to branding, but what about the rest of us?

What if you own a single self-storage facility in a town that already has six (actual) Public Storage facilities? How can branding help you make more money? There are numerous schools of thought. You may choose to put orange-colored roll-up doors on your mom-and-pop facility to project familiarity and confidence in the mind of a consumer. (We all know orange doors are a familiar part of a well-known self-storage companys branding.) Or do you want to differentiate your company? Lets explore a real-world, life-changing example of how branding saved a particular storage company. In the end, the choice of which direction to go is yours.

The COWs Brand

I've been with COWs Mobile Storage since its inception in 2007. For nearly two years, we followed a traditional path. We sold white mobile-storage containers to anyone who wanted to buy them. Although we believed our product was better, the concept was not unique or different and, therefore, didnt get any special attention.

To gain additional success, we needed to separate ourselves from other container companies. We needed to create a uniqueness. We needed to stand out. We needed to get attention with a traffic-stopping, conversation-grabbing, wonderfully visual attention machine. We needed to be noticed!

We turned the containers we manufacture into a brand, a lifestyle, a household word. We created a lifestyle through a COWs language, characters and marketing programs that maximize these things. Our containers and business philosophy swung 180-degrees from being brandless to being all about the COWs brand.

We are a manufacturing company. We do not import our containers from overseas. We are not a sales organization or a marketing group. To get noticed and "mooove" ahead of the herd, we needed to be more than just a container company. We needed to be a well-received brand to our prospective dealers and their ultimate customers. Lets say we took that red-hot branding iron and made an indelible mark on the storage industry.

While that seems self-serving to say, its not meant that way. My intention is to simply share with you a real example in which a brand absolutely changed a business. And now, with more than 50 locations around the country, our brand has changed many other businesses. Maybe a fresh look at your use of branding can help improve your business like it did ours.

Buying Into the Brand

There is risk in branding. Sometimes your message can be lost if you get too extreme or obscure with your choice. But thats where you have to trust your personal tastes and preferences. Trust that you will know in your heart what people in your town will relate to. Run your ideas past your friends and family. After all, these are the same people who will be your actual customer base.

At COWs we opted for a whimsical, fun style of branding because thats our personality. Since effective branding should influence your company culture, be sure you enjoy it. We have all heard the expression drink the Kool-Aid. Be sure youre ready to drink your own Kool-Aid when it comes to your choice of branding. The folks at Kool-Aid certainly have. And theyre doing pretty darn well. So if you think theres room for improvement in your business, take a hard look at your branding and ask yourself these questions:

• Is our brand memorable?
• Is our brand effectively projecting the service we provide?
• Is our brand projecting our company personality?

Only you can provide the answers. Once you do, you should be able to start your journey in one of two directions: You'll either launch a new brand for your company, or youll have great confidence to leave your brand as it is. Only you can decide.

David Nathan is vice president of rectangles for COWs Mobile Storage, which offers a mobile-storage dealership program. He has been with the company since the day the barn doors first opened. He and his team work hand in hoof with COWs dealers to implement proprietary marketing programs while maximizing  their use of the COWs brand. The COWs Dealership Program is specifically designed to bolt on to and enhance a self-storage business. For more information, call 866.438.2269; visit www.866-get-a-cow.com .

Whether its a video camera on the fritz or an access-control gate that unexpectedly opens and closes at random moments, self-storage security components can fail just like any other electronic. However, there are steps operators can take to minimize their security machinery from going haywire to keep their property, employees and tenants safe.

The risks of a security system going wrong are usually due to human error. In most cases, a little bit of attention to the system and components will prevent the majority of issues that can arise. This should be part of the security philosophy of a site. If a system is installed and configured correctly, it should be a smooth-running operation. How security can go wrong is by failing to pay attention to the initial details of a security system.

Installation 101

Security-system wiring is low-voltage and needs to be installed separately from the standard electrical runs throughout the site. It should be in separate conduit, with no splices in wire runs. Ensure the conduit is not susceptible to moisture or weather. Wire pulls need to be smooth so no wires get nicked or cut. Neglect these details, and it leaves the potential for things to go wrong later.

The initial setup of the security software program is imperative. Once all access, alarm and monitoring devices are correctly installed and configured, the site security should be in place. Security systems are designed with a specific structure and protocol to accomplish their goal, and devices require a specific address in the software program. Groups of units become security zones that must be listed correctly. Alarm wires should be terminated in the prescribed position to communicate with the door table in the computer, and time zones need to be scheduled accurately.

Regular Upkeep

Site security does require diligence from the self-storage manager or others who operate it. Most malfunctions or breaches occur because the system is not used properly. Is there someone on site reviewing camera and gate activity? Are there exit devices in place so the customer is required to log out as well as in? Does the manager know if someone is spending large amounts of time at the site? Are security checks being done throughout the property, or is it all being administered from the office? These are things operators need to consider.

In addition, the facility should be well-lit to discourage criminal activity. Operators should make sure they enter the customers information correctly in the system at the time of move-in so no one is accidentally granted access he should not have. Operators should also note if the door table has inaccurate information causing false alarms. When there is a false alarm, is it immediately addressed by the manager, or is the system simply shunted, or worse, shut down?

Tech Support

Of course, devices fail from time to time. Electrical storms and surges can damage equipment. When something fails, its time to call the security manufacturers tech support. They can troubleshoot the devices to determine if they need to be sent in for repair or replaced.

Through the years, electronics can become more susceptible to failure. How old is that keypad out there at the entry gate? When is the last time the chain on the gate was lubricated? Have you looked at the latest features for security to see whats new? Do you have a plan in place to periodically replace older equipment with newer, more reliable, feature-rich components?

These are some of the questions and concerns that should be addressed to eliminate or greatly reduce mishaps at the site concerning security. The shrewd operator will handle these details before something can go wrong, thereby eliminating most uncomfortable security situations before they happen. This will give the operator/owner peace of mind and give tenants confidence that their belongings will be safe.

John Fogg has been in the self-storage business for more than 25 years. Hes the general manager of Sentinel Systems Corp., a Lakewood, Colo.-based manufacturer of property-management software and security-access systems, individual door alarms, wireless door alarms, camera packages and more. For more information, call 800.456.9955, ext. ext. 405; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.sentinelsystems.com.