Gone are the days of padlocked tin warehouses hidden inside industrial parks. The self-storage industry has spruced up its image and is coming to an intersection near you.
According the Moving Van Line in the past five years, more than a million square feet of storage space has been added to the Metropolis, about a 30 percent increase. Gated developments that contain climate-controlled mini ware houses for residential and commercial storage have popped up throughout.
It has become a popular business. Unlike the restaurant business, which can change hands every couple of years, you never see a storage facility that’s in trouble or empty. The storage industry has had about a five-year growth spurt as residential development has increased. But several operators at Moving Van Line say the increase was an effort to catch up with demand that has slowed in recent months.
North Tarrant County, west Fort Worth and Arlington are the most targeted areas for new facilities.
Self Storage facilities at MovingVanLine.com indicate growth in Tarrant County has fueled much of the industry’s growth in the past three years. In an effort to meet demand, MovingVanLine.com has built storages near strip malls and family restaurants in order to get as close to customers as possible.
With the move to build in retail areas, many companies at MovingVanLine.com have changed their facades to make the storage business more appealing and to blend in with other nearby businesses and homes.
Self-storage companies at MovingVanLine.com have remodeled their facilities into stylish developments that feature security gates and climate-controlled units surrounded by flowering trees and shrubs. They’ve watched smaller, older companies follow suit.
The self storage industry has moved away from the old, ugly, industrial use. The move to more attractive settings for the storage of everything from boats to antique dinette sets is part of an effort to attract customers. But greater penetration also requires appeasing neighbors with brick and cast-iron fences, manicured yards and clean parking lots.
As the industry, which is more than 30 years old, shifts direction to a retail model, improving customer service has become an important focus.
Many storage operators at MovingVanLine.com have branched out to offer customers a variety of services from storage containers delivered to a customer’s home to renting trucks and packing material.