With close to 60,000 self storage facilities currently operating in the United States, the answer to this question is debatable. Some of the 1st Self Storage facilities in the U.S. were built in Texas in the late 1960’s. These 1st generation facilities were made up of prefabricated small garages constructed in groups and mainly in industrial areas. Even before these facilities started to sprout up, the US armed forces had been using their own similar storage buildings for military surplus for years. Even before the military, in ancient China, there is evidence of self storage available to the public.
Regardless the origin, the industry has made incredible growth and diversity over its U.S. history, some 45 years. We have come from the days of the 1st Public Storage facility in California, built in 1972, to the larger more modern facilities such as a 280,000 SQ, FT. facility built in 2007 by Big Yellow Self Storage Company. The industry has gone global and has become a necessity. Today, self storage customers can store anything from a 40 ft. RV at facilities capable of RV parking, to a perfectly kept bottle of cabernet sauvignon in a refrigerated building specifically built for wine storage.
Today, the self storage industry is made up from a collection of different-sized operators. The majority of the self storage facilities in the US consist of small, owner operator or “mom and pop” facilities. These smaller companies own 1-2 facilities each. Then there are the mid-sized companies, operating a collection of facilities in the range of 3-100 facilities each. These two groups occupy over 90% of the self storage industry. The remaining big-box operators such as Public Storage, Extra Space Self Storage, U-store-it, Sovran Self Storage and U-Haul International occupy the smallest portion of the industry.
Devon Self Storage in Oakland, CA
