Moving and Storage Business News

The News Review:

- Moving firm filling its own empty spot after co-founder’s death
- Homstie interviewed by Technology News Examiner
- Lock Up self-storage facility being built near Tropicana Field
- Strategic Storage Trust Celebrates ne-Year Anniversary
- Vindon Healthcare Fiscal Year Profit Up; To Store Historical Artefacts
- How to find a reputable mover: Request and then verify the mover’s …
- Self-Storage wners in Redding Feel the Impact of Economic …

Moving firm filling its own empty spot after co-founder’s death
Dallas Morning News
While Simple Movers has had to deal with the death of its co-founder the faltering economy has hit the $16. 5 billion moving industry hard. "Times are tough right now" said John Bisney spokesman for the American Moving and Storage Association. "People don’t have the money to hire professional movers and companies aren’t moving as many people. " Total moving shipments fell 10 percent last year reflecting the housing crisis and high unemployment according to the association. Most of the nation’s 8100 moving companies are small businesses. Simple Movers provides full service for any move originating in Texas and it provides contract movers nationwide.

Homstie interviewed by Technology News Examiner
Examiner.com
What’s the story behind how you started the company? Founder Chuck Gordon came up with the idea behind Homstie during his third year at UCLA. He was moving out of his apartment leaving to study abroad in Singapore and wasn’t planning on returning to Los Angeles until the following fall. He faced a tough predicament – what to do with all his stuff? It seemed like he had two options: A) self-storage or B) get rid of it. Neither option was appealing. Enter option C): store his stuff with other people. Chuck found a welcoming garage in San Diego to drop off a few boxes and a friendly living room to house his eight-foot tall rocket ship sculpture.

Lock Up self-storage facility being built near Tropicana Field
Tampabay.com
Plus with a faux-stucco facade accented with a barrel-tile overhang the Lock Up is designed to blend in. “We’re the Nordstrom of the industry” said Andrea Carnes vice president of operations for BRB Development LLC. Indeed many of the Chicago company’s 29 other Lock Ups come with more bells and whistles than the old open-air orange garage doors: free half-day use of a truck to move in and move out; indoor loading bays carpeted hallways and commercial space designed to augment home businesses or a storefront. In places like Naples Lock Up rents climate-controlled wine collection storage. The drawing card for downtown: a crop of more than 2000 new high-end condos and premium-priced apartments. The timing could be better. Much of that housing remains empty.
Related from Tianjigh: Tropicana dealers K strike; no date set

Strategic Storage Trust Celebrates ne-Year Anniversary
Inside Self-Storage
celebrated its one-year anniversary on March 20. The company is a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust with $1 billion of common stock. The company’s portfolio includes 3024 self-storage units with 407000 rentable square feet of storage space.   ver the past year Strategic Storage Trust has acquired six self-storage facilities in prime markets throughout the United States.   Source: CMetro.

Vindon Healthcare Fiscal Year Profit Up; To Store Historical Artefacts
CNNMoney.com
LN)Tuesday reported a rise in annual revenue and profit and said it hopes to boostearnings by moving into the storage of historical artefacts. Vindon which provides environmentally controlled testing chambers and storagesites for pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK. LN) and PfizerInc. (PFE) said following an expansion of its storage capacity it has signed acontract to store historical artefacts and documents.

How to find a reputable mover: Request and then verify the mover’s …
Examiner.com
The process of ‘moving’ has always conveyed change – either a physical transfer of motion or action or an emotional response. Unfortunately the personal life changes affected by relocation planning can become so overwhelming for some that it makes it difficult for them to make good buying decisions. Don’t become a victim of an unscrupulous moving or storage company or relocation broker. Do your homework!After you’ve obtained each potential vendor’s company details and licensing info confirm everything is in order. You can verify a company’s information by checking with your secretary of state’s office or state corporation commission. Coordinated Legal provides a convenient resource.

Self-Storage wners in Redding Feel the Impact of Economic …
Inside Self-Storage
are feeling the impact of economic slowdown as tenants vacate their units. Richard Kelly owner of AAA Mini & RV Storage for 22 years said his occupancy rate is down to 90 percent from his usual 97 percent to 98 percent and he won’t be surprised if it reaches as high as 80 percent before the recession is over.   Jim McNamee president of the California Self Storage Association said there are still demand drivers for storage and the slowdown operators are seeing may be that typical of the summer months. The affect of the recession is small he said.     According to Deborah wens manager of Redding Mini Storage her facility is experiencing a 70 percent occupancy rate down from its usual 95 percent. Some customers just leave their belongings and stop paying rent she said.   Charles Barker who manages American Storage said his vacancies have also gone up.