StorageMart - Budget Storage Units

StorageMart is a self-storage company with facilities in both the US and Canada. It is also the parent company of the call center company PhoneSmart.

Company overview

Early history

StorageMart was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Columbia, Missouri by Gordon Burnam, who had been involved in the self-storage industry since 1974. Prior to founding StorageMart, Burnam founded the storage company Storage Trust, which he took public in 1994. He then sold the company to Public Storage for $600 million in 1999. StorageMart came to public attention in the early 2000s by using non-traditional buildings to house its storage facilities, including the use of a 10 story mid-rise building in Miami, Florida. This allowed the company to open facilities that were easily accessible for urban dwellers, and camouflage these facilities such that they appear to be just another office or residential complex. By the end of 2001 StorageMart had opened 31 facilities across the US, including both traditional storage units and climate-controlled units capable of housing more perishable or sensitive goods like wine.

North American expansion

The demand for self-storage spaces in the US grew over the early part of the 2000s. In 2003 president Cris Burnam described the business of self-storage, stating "We're a need-driven business ... I can't instill in someone a burning desire to get a storage facility" in describing how StorageMart could expand. By 2005 the company had facilities in eleven states, including Texas, where it purchased five properties in March 2005. The other states StorageMart had opened facilities in were Colorado, Illinois, Florida, Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky, Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Louisiana. By 2006 StorageMart operated sixty facilities across the US.

In 2007 the company expanded into Canada, and according Garry Marr of the Financial Post, it "is now one of the dominant players in the country with 70 properties and about 5 million square feet". This includes more than three dozen facilities in metropolitan Toronto. In 2011-12 these facilities installed 640,000 square feet of solar collectors on their roofs, in order to provide 3 megawatts of power per year. In 2009 TKG-StorageMart Canada took ownership of InStorage Real Estate Investment Trust for about $416 million. This increased the number of StorageMart facilities by fifty-seven to a total of over 120, making it "one of the largest privately owned storage companies in North America" according to Cris Burnam. By 2012 StorageMart had more facilities in Canada than any other self-storage company.

As of 2013 StorageMart had 135 storage facility locations across the US and Canada. States and provinces where StorageMart facilities existed included California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. These facilities included climate controlled storage for both individuals and businesses. The company also sells moving and packing supplies. By May 2014 StorageMart had about 9.8 million square feet of rental space, after acquiring eighteen storage facilities in Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas from Budget Storage and Advance Self Storage. This put the number of storage facilities owned by StorageMart at 149. The average length of stay in StorageMart units is 42 months. StorageMart facilities have been featured on shows including Storage Wars and Storage Wars: Canada. A

PhoneSmart

StorageMart is also the parent company of PhoneSmart, founded in 2000, which according to the Columbia Daily Tribune, "provides call center support for more than a thousand storage properties across the Americas." Locations served by PhoneSmart include facilities in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Panama. Justin Willett of the Columbia Tribune reported that, "Phone Smart handles about 30,000 calls a month and only 10 percent are for StorageMart facilities."

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Management

Founder Gordon Burnam and his four children each hold executive positions within the company. Mike Burnam is the company's chief executive officer. The company president is Cris Burnam and CFO is Stephen M. Dulle. The chief marketing officer is Tron Jordheim.

Charity

StorageMart locations sponsor community events and programs. These have included student contests and the donation of school supplies to primary schools in the urban neighbourhoods of Oakland and Brooklyn. In Missouri, the company has partnered with non-profits in order to benefit impoverished children in Haiti, as well as clean water projects globally. According to Inside Self-Storage, "StorageMart supports charities in the communities in which it operates, including Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, adoption and foster programs, animal-rescue missions, and others. The company also fund[ed] the ScholarSmarts program, which award[ed] $10,000 in higher-education scholarships annually." They have also partnered with Skate To Great, which provides skates for children in need, and Second Chance.