E4
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The Vicksburg Post
Flood evacuees, everyday movers keep storage facilities stacked up By Terri Cowart Frazier tfrazier@vicksburgpost.com Going once, going twice — sold for $60 to the fellow in the red jacket. That’s a typical line from “Storage Wars,” a reality television show that premiered in December 2010 on A&E. The show features four men traveling the country to bid on left-behind items in selfstorage units. Since the 1960s, the industry has grown to more than 2.35 billion square feet of selfstorage in the United States, or a land area equal to three times Manhattan Island. One in 10 U.S. households rent self-storage units. Ab o u t 4 0 Sonny million AmerJones icans move e a c h ye a r, according to the U.S. Census, and www.selfstorage.org lists that as a reason for using selfTeresa storage. Jones A storage facility’s monthly cost can range from $30 to $140, depending on the size and whether it’s climate controlled. In Vicksburg, Sonny Jones, owner of Outback Storage at 4299 Halls Ferry Road, estimates there are more than 3,000 individual units divided among about a dozen businesses.
Henley. “We have one customer that has been in our facility since it opened,” her husband said, “and we’ve been in the selfstorage business since 1993. He comes in every week and visits with us.” Ed Fowler, who owns South
KATIE CARTER•The Vicksburg Post
Manager and co-owner Robert Henley enters a code into a unit at 61 North Mini-Storage. “Our facility was completely full during the flood,” said wife and co-owner Teresa Jones. “Now we have about an 80 percent occupancy rate.” In the spring, the Mississippi River at Vicksburg rose to a record 57.1 feet, 14.1 feet above flood stage, and 1.3 foot above the Great Flood of 1927. The Joneses don’t auction goods when a renter defaults, but says most items left behind are junk. “If it’s something I can donate, I’ll do that,” Teresa said. Robert and Dedra Henley, co-owners and managers of 61 North Mini-Storage, agreed that most stuff is junk and said they’ve never found anything unusual in one of their units. Paul Campbell, co-owner of Wisconsin Avenue Mini Stor-
age, said when he does hold an auction, he has a list of thrift shop owners he calls. A renter’s items may be auctioned when rent goes unpaid. Otherwise, a storage unit owner can’t enter the unit without permission. “Once the unit is rented,” Robert Henley said, “it’s the property of the renter.” The default process is lengthy. “Once a renter becomes two months behind on payment, by law I have to send a certified letter to the renter and run it in the paper three times,” Robert Henley said. He said he’s never made enough money from an auction to cover the unpaid rent. “Some people use the selfstorage units to store Christmas decorations,” said Dedra
Vicksburg Mini Storage on Fisher Ferry Road, said auctions are mainly a big-city thing. “Most people store their junk and keep the good stuff,” he said. “You might find a stash of dope.” Campbell and his business
partner, Joe Bonelli, say Vicksburg has more than enough self-storage businesses. But, “it’s still a good industry,” Campbell said. “Location of a storage facility is important, too. Most customers like to live relatively close to where they store their belongings.”