It can be hard to gauge the success that an industry is having in a market that is already fairly saturated like the United States is when it comes to the self storage industry. While the industry is doing well in the U.S. its success in emerging markets—like Nova Scotia-- can be considered a good indicator of how well it is doing.
The self storage industry has close to 50,000 facilities spread across the United States. Canada runs a distant second for the country that has embraced the industry the most with over 3,000. For a nation that happens to be the second largest in the world at close to 10 million square kilometers, but whose population of roughly 34 million ranks just 33rd. this leaves plenty of room for industry growth.
Whether A&E will do an international version of Storage Wars anytime soon remains to be seen, but it appears safe to say that the industry is on the rise in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. A couple of local couples are in the midst of expanding as the demand for self storage continues to rise.
“Every month we’re inching up. Right now, we’re at 55 per cent capacity and this is our slow season. We’re expecting more activity in the spring when people are buying and selling homes, and the university kids are moving around,” said Windmill U-Store-IT manager Carla Wright.
Wright’s store had been operating at close to maximum capacity for the last four years (approximately 98 percent).
Even though the industry is far from commonplace, the existing companies are wasting no time in implementing the latest advances in technology as well as customer service that the most advanced facilities in the U.S. are using. Premiere Self Storage will be looking to use biometric scans as a form of security and to allow tenants round the clock access to their climate controlled, drive-in units.
“We’re behind pretty drastically and there hasn’t been a premium product available for consumers,” said Ian Rankin, a partner in Premium Self Storage. “Our first unit of this kind will be the litmus test to see if the market absorbs what we have to offer as fast as we’re expecting.”
Rankin says that the company is looking to build four new self storage facilities in the next five years in order to meet what they think will be an ever-increasing demand. With Nova Scotia being known for its involvement in the maritime industry, a form of employment where people are often gone for months at a time, the demand will likely be there.
“The competition in Halifax is growing and we’re going to keep moving forward and try to pick up new services. Competition is not a negative thing. It promotes the industry itself and we’re all looking forward to the challenge.”
Sources Used:
“Demand for storage units on the rise in N.S.” Chronicle Herald; 17 January 2012.
“The World Fact Book.” Central Intelligence Agency; 13 December 2011.
2011 SSA Fact Sheet; Self Storage Association.