Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

dopkick t1_izs9jmu wrote

Reply to comment by tco9m5 in Ex Bob Evans site on Padonia Rd to be another storage unit facility by adb1146

> It's generally a pretty small percentage of storage unit patrons

I could see the correlation but I have my doubts that only a small number of people are using storage places because they have too much stuff.

In states with homes that generally have no basements (think FL, TX, etc) storage space is often at a premium. Combine this with the typical 1960's home size/design and you have basically zero storage, unless you don't put cars in the garage.

I also think a large number of people like to hoard, to some degree. I know my parents and several of their neighbors hang on to shit they could have tossed decades ago. "But what if I need it some day?" I will admit, I used to fall victim to this mindset and had a closet that was useless because it was full of every kind of cord, adapter, spare part, etc. imaginable. Then I got rid of nearly all of it and reclaimed the closet knowing that I might have to spend a few bucks at Microcenter or Monoprice if I ever need something. Well worth it.

There's also some cultures that hang on to more stuff, like practicing jews who have a kosher set of kitchen stuff that they might bust out on the rare occasion. Some actually operate parallel kitchens with two sets of everything, including appliances. Lots of opportunities here to accumulate a lot of stuff that needs to be stored.

3

tco9m5 t1_izscyzf wrote

True, but states like Florida and Texas also generally have larger yards than Baltimore area homes. I would think homeowners there would more likely opt to pay a one time upfront cost to buy/build a shed instead of recurring monthly fees for a storage unit that, within six months to a year, total more than the cost of a shed.

Obviously this is generalizing what the "typical" situations are and assuming that these folks are good at these types of decisions so this comment and my previous one don't account for every storage unit user's situation. I'm also sure there's a huge spectrum that folks fall on between hoarder and minimalist.

I do, however, believe that there are likely very smart people who watch various market trends in order to make highly educated decisions about when the right time to build a storage facility would be. My previous comment was only intended to point out that a layperson like myself only needs to see the product of these smart people's decisions in order to get an idea of what they're seeing.

5

rmphys t1_izsecwp wrote

Not to mention, with people getting married (or re-married) later in life, a lot of couples each already have their own set of everything, whereas when couples get together young, they build up a single house's worth of stuff together. When they combine households, that shits gotta go somewhere. A lot sell it, but in the meantime store it. Everyone I know who owns a storage unit is because they got married and suddenly had two houses worth of stuff.

3