In Sarasota, Florida, Quality Self Storage purchased a self storage facility for $1.7 million dollars. This amount is almost half of the price that it was valued at eight years ago in 2004. The current owner paid $3.28 million for the business at that time. The facility has over 93,000 square-feet and was built 39 years ago. This was the second self storage business in the area that was sold in the last several months. [More]

Circuit City was the No. 2 electronic retailer after Best Buy. They opened their doors in 1949 and operated over 700 retail stores throughout the United States and Canada. These stores ranged in size from 15,000 square feet to 45,000 square feet. However, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2008 and closed their doors for good on March 8, 2009. Two main reasons that contributed to their financial problems were the bad economy and recession in the late 2000s and a big drop in consumer spending. [More]

How many colleges do you think there are in the metropolitan Chicago area? Two? Ten? Maybe twenty or twenty five? Would you believe that there are over 80 community and junior colleges, universities, and graduate schools? That means there are a lot of students living in the area.

The end of the school year school year is drawing to a close and that means that many of these college students will be heading home, to internships, or places for summer work – and many of those students need a place to store their belongings for the summer. [More]

LifeStorage is holding its Third Annual Earth Day Shredding on Friday April 20 and Saturday April 21. It will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The LifeStorage facility in Mokena and Aurora is offering half-price shredding for each standard-sized file box making it only $5 per box. The LifeStorage facility in Wrigleyville is offering 20% off normal shredding costs per box. The person who brings in the largest load of files to be shredded will receive a $100 Visa gift card. [More]

For self storage owners in Illinois, keep June 6, 2012 open on your calendar. The Illinois Self Storage Association (ISSA) will host the 2012 Great Lakes Self Storage Owners Summit. It will be held at the Conrad Hotel, in Chicago, 521 North Rush Street. [More]

A self storage unit. A blood drive. A Merchant Day Event. Chicago-based LifeStorage in its Hermosa location is bringing these three seemingly unconnected events together.

Many small businesses rent storage units for various reasons: document storage, storing extra inventory, business equipment. Entrepreneurs often use self storage facilities for their business, too. Yecy Morquecho and Mario Alequin, LifeStorage Hermosa store managers, came up with a good plan where they could spotlight these small businesses and do a community service at the same time. They combined a community blood drive with a Merchant Day Event. Participants can stop by the LifeStorage facility, see what the merchants have on display, donate blood, and also checkout the services that LifeStorage offers. [More]

Marketing and branding are top business concerns for owners of self storage facilities. They are always looking for new and innovative ways to market their business and ways to create a business brand and get it in the public's awareness. LifeStorage in Chicago is using some marketing innovation by connecting with a local sports-talk radio station. [More]

Safeguard Self Storage recently acquired its tenth facility. Their newest location is in Chicago and is located at 9001 West 47th street in McCook Village, 15 miles west of Chicago. Safeguard has 10 locations within the Chicago area and 63 stores nationwide. [More]

LifeStorage, Chicago self storage provider, is the official storage facility for all donations collected by the Julian D. King Gift Foundation toy drive. The culminating event of the toy drive is sponsored by the WGN Morning News and will be held from 5 a.m. through 9 a.m. on December 20th at the station's studio located 2501 W. Bradley Place. There will be a visit from St. Nick, Christmas carolers, holiday fun, and an appearance by Jennifer Hudson. [More]

Paul Menzel, LifeStorage store manager, and Santa Claus visited a pediatric unit and emergency room delivering toys and gifts to sick and injured children in the Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Illinois. Some of the gifts included monster trucks for the boys and Barbie dolls for the girls. The children were thrilled to receive the visit and the gift. [More]