New Storage Amenities

There was a very nice article at Oregonlive.com about one of our members, Rose City Self Storage &
Wine Vaults, today and their recent investment into their wine vaults. The headline was "Nearly $4 million for a storage unit?", which was a little misleading but surely grabbed reader's attention. The developers of Rose City Self Storage & Wine Vaults found an excellent use for the subterranean space that existed in a historic building renovated to house self storage units. Not only did they turn their basement space into a product that meets the needs of a growing niche market but also found a way to differentiate themselves from other Portland Self Storage and Oregon Self Storage facilities.

Reading this article made us think about other amenities our members are adding to their self storage facilities in hopes of:

• Meeting the specific needs of their self storage clients, or
  
• Utilizing space for a higher and better use than traditional self storage, or
  
• Gaining a competitive edge or unique selling tool over their competition
  

We know that over the past decade more facilities have added specific amenities to accomplish one or more of these 3 goals. Community centers, business centers and moving centers have become more common place as value-added services at many storage facilities.

Comment back with how you have added specific amenities to increase occupancy and make your self storage facility stand out from the competition. What is the most unusual amenity you have seen added to a facility? What amenities have you tried that haven't worked? We will post a follow-up blog next week with the responses from all of our members.