Even though Jim and Nell Sheppard are in their 80s, they still run Sheps Self Storage in Port Neches, in eastern Texas. Just 20 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, Port Neches is a small town with a population of slightly more than 13,000 residents. Sheps Self Storage provides rental units for the city’s storage needs. [More]

Andrew Donaldson, a partner in U.K. self storage operator BIG Storage is a finalist on a list of candidates for the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the North and Midlands region of England. The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year is a global business award for entrepreneurs. If Donaldson wins the award for his region, he’ll go onto to compete for the United Kingdom title. [More]

Easter weekend is typically one of the holidays where people tend to gather with family and renew the bonds that make family not just family, but friends. It’s a time to enjoy the company of your loved ones and watch the faces of little kids smile as they try to decide whether they want to eat a chocolate egg or a chocolate bunny first. [More]

In Europe as in the United States, real estate analysts are recommending self storage as an investment worth considering, compared to other areas of the real estate market (such as residential and retail properties), which are foundering. [More]

Cardiff Self Storage, a storage facility located in the United Kingdom, has decided to participate in a campaign to encourage local college students to recycle unwanted items. The recycling campaign, called Get It Out for Cardiff, will donate clothing to the Salvation Army, and nonperishable food items to FareShare. The campaign will also benefit the British Heart Foundation and Raise and Give. So far the campaign has been a phenomenal success, raising several tons of materials to donate to local charities. [More]

World wheat supplies are at record highs this year, and projected to grow even higher -- and the surplus of wheat has led to a worldwide wheat storage shortage. The world currently has so much wheat that some analysts say the United States would have plenty of wheat even if not a single American farmer were to plant wheat this year. In fact, American growers are starting to sow less wheat, as Australian and Russian farmers have increased their wheat production so dramatically that Asian countries are finding it more economical to import their wheat from Australia and Russia than from the United States. The United States is still the world's largest exporter of wheat, but its share of the world wheat market has dropped to 19 percent this year, down from 29 percent in 2008, because so much wheat is already available elsewhere. [More]

A historic UK building that used to be a working cotton mill has been purchased by Alligator Self Storage, which will make it into a self storage facility....the five-story historic mill will become Alligator Self Storage's first northwest site. Alligator's CEO, Alister Jack, commented to the Bolton News: "Self storage businesses are a veritable Aladdin's cave....When you convert a building like Egyptian Mill to become a storage centre, the diversity of uses for the building is incredible. We anticipate all sorts of businesses will make use of the space, from builders and plumbers using it as a lock-up, to lawyers and accountants using it for archive space." [More]

Alligator Self Storage, a Scottish self storage chain, has announced that it plans to expand into two or three more sites this year. It has already acquired 12 new locations over the past several months, thanks to the tireless efforts of founder Alister Jack. Jack financed the acquisition of the 12 new locations, which came from Australian investment bank Macquarie, with 20 million from Merrill Lynch (through Bank of America).

“We have the ability to finance the acquisition of more sites,” Jack told Scott Reid of Scotland on Sunday yesterday. “We would like to buy two or three in the next year, though there’s quite a bit to do in terms of integrating the latest sites.” [More]

The United Kingdom's largest self-storage company, Safestore, has reported a full-year loss for 2009, even though the number of customers using its facilities has steadily increased. After making a pre-tax profit of £14.9 million in 2008, it recorded a pre-tax loss for 2009 of £9.4 million ($15 million). Per share earnings fell from 6.68p to a loss of 0.14p.

Occupancy of Safestore's storage units grew by 57,000 square feet in 2009, against a drop of 195,000 square feet in 2008. Rental rates also rose 4.9 percent. At year's end, Safestore was charging £25.24 per square foot of unit space. Safestore's UK and French earnings rose 1.9 percent, from £82.9 to £84.4 million. [More]

A UK self-storage company has decided to leave its parent company, an international franchise, and continue alone. The site, which is located in Embleton, near Cockermouth in Cumbria, originally opened as a self-storage facility in October 2007, as a branch of international self-storage franchiser Storage King. Storage King classified the Cumbrian facility as its North Lakes Cumbria Centre. It was Storage King's first rural location in the United Kingdom. Now the facility will be known as Box Clever Smart Storage Solutions.

Box Clever Smart Storage Solutions is now owned and operated by a Cumbrian catering group, Caterite. Caterite had been working with Storage King, but developed a growing confidence that it would be possible to run the business alone, without benefit of the franchise. Caterite's director, Keith Graham, commented, "The self-storage business we have been operating here at Embleton has been a remarkable success since we opened but the time was right to go on our own and extend it. We feel we can offer our customers a better service under our own private ownership as Box Clever." [More]