People starting a new job often bring a few personal items, perhaps a cell phone, a potted plant and a file of business contacts. When Travis Morrow assumes his new role as president of the Self Storage Division at San Diego-based Strat Property Management Inc. on August 1st, he will be bringing something a bit…
Editor’s note: The following op/ed piece is the opinion of the author. Interested in submitting your industry observations? Contact editor@sparefoot.com Traditionally an overlooked industry, self-storage has seen a surge in new customers and a growing interest by commercial real estate investors over the last few years. According to a recent market forecast by IBISWorld, revenue…
Buying power and making buying decisions for high-ticket items have become more complex in our fast paced society and so have the key roles for those who make those ultimate household financial decisions. It has been discovered females make most of the major purchases and many more that influence their family or extended family. We…
Regional operators in the self-storage industry, often ask: “How can I compete against the big guys?” “Can I have market share with Public Storage? Extra Space or CubeSmart?” “With price, competition, size selection and all their technology… how can I compare? Where do I get the horsepower?” Regional operators don’t always have the flexibility to…
As editor of the SpareFoot Storage Beat, I’d like to take a quick moment to share some exciting news from SpareFoot. Every year, Inside Self Storage hosts a Best of Business contest for the best vendors in the storage industry. We’re humbled and excited to say that SpareFoot has won Best Online Directory six consecutive…
The self-storage industry is in the midst of a development boom, and the deserts and mountains of Utah are no exception. There are about a dozen new projects underway in the city, which has a metro population around 1.1 million, the 48th largest metro area in the country. So what’s encouraging developers to build here?…
A dozen of the 50 largest self-storage operators in the U.S. are based in Southern California, with six of the 12 maintaining headquarters in Orange County. Other than the abundant sunshine and the many miles of beaches, why is Southern California essentially the epicenter of the country’s $38 billion self-storage industry? What is it about…
Troy Downing just emerged from a hunting trip, deep within the Alaskan wilderness. It was September 16, 2001. Downing quickly learned that the country had been attacked while he was off the grid, and his life would never be the same. “September 11 came around and it really punched me in the gut,” Downing said. On…
Last month, W. P. Carey Inc. announced it hired industry veteran Brian Boulter as its new director of Self-Storage. W. P. Carey ranked as the 8th largest owner/operator of self-storage assets in the United States, according to Inside Self-Storage. Boulter will be responsible for overseeing the management of the firm’s existing self-storage portfolio, which is…
Troy Downing, CEO of California-based AC Self Storage Solutions, has announced his plans to run for a U.S. Senate seat in 2018. Downing, a Republican, seeks to replace Democrat Jon Tester. A second Republican is also running, state Senator Al Olszewski. Downing’s company owns and operates more than one million square feet of storage space in…
