The History of Self Storage- The View From Your Tucson Storage Facility

Tucson storage facilities came into being at the dawn of man when our ancestors began to store their food and weapons in external stone storage units. They negotiated self-storage insurance contracts, and they even began to keep their more valuable items (like the shiny rock!) in an ancient self-storage unit because they knew it would be safe.

Well, that’s what we wanted to believe.

The truth about the history of self-storage is more interesting, and far more believable. To condense our fascinating industry history, please enjoy the following interesting bullet points.

10 Historical Facts About Self-Storage

Self storage might have started in Ancient China, 2,000 years ago (Source: The Sparefoot Blog, 2013). Bekins Storage, originally a moving company in Iowa, built the first concrete storage warehouse in 1906 (Source: Bekins, 2013). Tucson self-storage and other self-storage as we know it today started taking shape in 1960 with a storage facility in Texas aptly called, “A-1 U-Store-It U-Lock-It U-Carry the Key." By 1970, the owners had built several more self-storage locations to serve the growing Texas oil and gas industry, as well the prolific fishing and boating industry. (Source: TMSA, 2001). American consumerism was on the rise in the 1970’s and 1980’s. This lead to a growing number of Americans making more purchases, and then needing more storage as a result. Slate says that, “In the early 1970s, what would become the big national players arrived on the scene- Shurgard National Storage Centers, Public Storage (the orange one), Storage USA” (Source: Slate, 2014). Even BBC notices that America has a craze for storage units. “The mania for storage centers began in the US in the 1960s and the country now has over 50,000 such facilities” (Source: BBC News, 2014). The “boom” happened at the turn of the century. Between 2000 and 2005, the US DOUBLED its amount of self-storage space. (Source: Sparefoot Blog, 2012). Right now, the USA boasts 46,500 self storage facilities, our local Tucson RV storage and Tucson storage facility among them (Source: SSA, 2013).

Tucson RV Storage, Tucson Boat Storage, or Just Tucson Storage Units

You’re covered! US Storage Centers is part of a long and rich history based on customer service and superior quality self-storage. Why don’t you visit us to find out why today!

US Storage Centers 4115 East Speedway Tucson , AZ 85712 (520) 442-0010

Storage

Resources

About Us