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Short answer: Mark treats storage as a retail business. Only about 10–12% of people need storage at any time, and most customers live within 3 to 5 miles, so he wants everyone in the trade area to see the facility. When they do need storage and search online, they already recognize it.
What Mark has seen #
- “Drive-by” remains one of his top two or three sources of new leases. Tenants say things like “I see your facility every day when I pick up the kids.”
- His slowest lease-up ever was a facility next to an expressway with no visibility from a main road; he couldn’t get the signage competitors had. It took well over a year longer than planned to stabilize, with the partners covering payments in the meantime.
- Visibility also affects the value of each lease signed, something supply metrics like square foot per capita don’t capture.
His coaching: choose properties with strong retail-style visibility in their trade area, and check signage rules carefully during due diligence.
Related answers #
- What makes a good self-storage trade area?
- Is square foot per capita a reliable measure of self-storage demand?
- What are the most common mistakes when buying a first self-storage facility?
Source: Mark’s posts Five Beginner Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Self-Storage Facility and The Square Foot per Capita Myth
