Tower Storage may be new to the Chandler, Arizona community, but US Storage Centers wants you to know that you’re in good hands with veteran self storage property manager Gabby Oviedo. Gabby has multiple years of experience in the industry and has helped thousands of renters find the size and type of self storage best for their unique situation. Get to know more about Gabby and Tower Storage in Chandler, AZ. Peter: Tower Storage has been open for a few weeks now. Is this your first job in the self storage industry or had you been with US Storage Centers before? Gabby: No, I was with US Storage Centers before. I’ve been with them since November of 2013. Peter: Oh, wow! Four years is a long time. Gabby: Yes, it’s been great Peter: Congratulations on finding a good thing. It’s really rare these days to stay at one job for that long. Gabby: It’s been a good experience and I’ve learned a lot here with US Storage Centers. Tower Storage is a new challenge and it’s been great. Peter: I imagine they asked someone as experienced as you are to take this facility over, because they probably need someone who has a lot of experience and is able to lease it up pretty quick. Gabby: It’s definitely different. Tower Storage has a lot of features that other facilities don’t have, so I guess the experience that I have and my time with the company caused them to choose me. Peter: That’s really cool. That’s awesome. I’ve talked to a few of the other self storage facility managers and they all talked about how they got a lot of support from the US Storage Centers home office. Gabby: We have our marketing department, our operations department, we have our training department, coworkers, district managers. If we have questions or we have to brainstorm anything there is always help that’s provided to us. Our maintenance department as well. Peter: You’ve been in self storage for a while, so you’ve probably noticed that all types of people use self storage. Can you think of any moments in the past where you really helped a renter out? Gabby: Coming into storage, I didn’t realize how much people need storage. You see a little bit of everything, from the customer who will store a vehicle to the customer who will actually work out of their unit and store their supplies at our facilities.We also have tenants who have stored things at the facility for years and you get to form a personal relationship with them, because they’ll come in and talk to you about how their day was or what they’re planning on doing while storing with us. You hear a little bit of everything. That’s what makes it interesting; you get to see people with all sorts of different stories, people who have been with you for years. Peter: It’s an interesting kind of customer service, because dealing with people’s stuff is way more personal than working in retail or working in a restaurant. Gabby: Oh yes, you have customers that you’ve never seen before and you have customers that you see every other day. Peter: That is so cool. I know you’ve only been open for a few weeks. What’s the neighborhood like around Tower Storage? Gabby: It’s a nice neighborhood. It’s a lot of new houses. We have a retirement community nearby and on the other side of the facility we have a new development, new housing nearby and new apartments being built. There’s a lot of construction going on around the facility. Peter: That’s an interesting area. Lots of development going on. Do you live in the area? Gabby: I commute to work. Peter: Tower Storage is in Chandler, Arizona, right? Gabby: Yes, that’s right. Peter: I’ve never been down there. Do you know much about it, even though you commute? Gabby: Actually a couple weeks before we officially opened, I got a chance to drive around and get to know where I’m at and the neighbors and what we have in our surroundings. I know that if we physically need to go marketing, talk to our neighbors, we can do so. I did drive around, and Chandler is a very nice city. You have everything you need. Everything is good. You have restaurants and retail. The mall is about 5 miles from here, so it’s a nice community. Peter: Sounds like a great place to live. Tell me a little bit about the facility. It’s new, so is there anything that stands out about it? Gabby: What’s unique about the facility is that we have RV storages. We have them with covered spaces. We have enclosed units. There aren’t a lot of those in the city that have those features. We do have a wash service for RVs. We have a vacuum cleaner, a little air compressor for tires. We’re in the process of getting propane in a year or two. It has a lot of features that are suited to someone who has an RV, mobile home, fifth wheel and they need to get ready for their trip. They can do everything here and they don’t have to go anywhere else to get ready. They can just do what they need to do and hit the road. Peter: That is so convenient. It’s nice to know you have all of those amenities for RV owners. Gabby: Yeah, we also have free ice, an ice machine like you would see in a hotel. That’s something tenants can use. Right next to our wash service bay, there’s a little park, like if you have a dog and you want to let him run before hitting the road and do their duties, you can have them in that enclosure. It’s really nice. Peter: Everything right there! Dang, that is such a great spot for people with RVs. Gabby: Yes it is, we hear that from people all the time. Peter: How many staff members work at Tower Storage? Is it just you or do you have an assistant? Gabby: It’s just me most of the time, but I do have someone who can cover me on my days off. We’ll probably hire an assistant who will spend a couple days working with me. We’re still looking for someone else to work with us. Peter: If anyone comes to Tower Storage, you’re the Queen of self storage. Gabby: Yeah, kind of, haha. Peter: It is like you are the leader of your own little community at a self storage facility. Gabby: For me, when I work I job, I want to treat it as my own. Any time you do that, it will be great. When you make it your own, you’ll have a fun time doing it. Peter: That’s a great way to look at work. So outside of working at the self storage facility, do you have any hobbies or pastimes that the team at US Storage Centers may not know about? Gabby: I like to travel on my days off. I like to know the area. I’ve only been here for three years, so I like to visit different cities, different parts of the state. Mainly I spend time with my family. That’s what I do with my time off: relax, go out and see places, and visit family. Peter: Do you have a good amount of family nearby then? Gabby: Actually my family is on the west coast. Peter: That’s too bad. That’s a long way from Chandler. Gabby: Yeah. Peter: I want to return to self storage for a moment. It sounds like they let you run the facility the way you think it should be run. They give you a lot of independence, but also a lot of support. Is there anyone at US Storage Centers who you would like to give a shout out to? Maybe someone who has helped you out? Gabby: The whole time I have been with US Storage Centers I have had a lot of help from the time that I started my training. I did my training with Jonathan and Julie. I thank them so much, because they taught me everything that I know. And throughout the process of me being here I’ve learned a lot from my district managers. George and Claudio and Jorge. All three of them, they help. And our training department, the maintenance department, if we ever need anything. I could probably name everyone, because everyone is willing to help us with whatever we need. Tower Storage 5205 South Arizona Avenue Chandler, AZ 85248
