Growth boom causes spread of storage sheds

Kimberley McGee

Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2000 | 8:57 a.m.

It could be a death in the family. Or a divorce. Or maybe a move to a new house.

Regardless, people are finding storage units invaluable and use them not only to store extra stuff, but also as a haven for a lost loved one's belongings or a temporary shelter as they make major life transitions such as a marriage or a move.

Las Vegas has the highest number of storage units per capita in the country, said Richard Tanner, president of Extra Space Management.

"Las Vegas has more square feet per person of storage space than anywhere else in the country," he said. "That's a lot of space."

Las Vegas has a whopping 8.73 square feet of storage space per resident. By comparison, New York City dwellers have less than one square foot of space per person.

"It's due to the amount of growth Las Vegas has had, and people moving in and out of there," Tanner said.

Las Vegas' storage unit growth has increased nearly 15 percent since 1997, said Jim Jolley, district manager of Storage USA for Nevada and Utah.

"People are finding out about self storage," Jolley said. "They don't want their garages full with stuff and they have the money to spend."

The average cost of a 10- by 15-foot storage unit (the most popular size) is between $50 and $60 a month.

One new demographic to the world of storage is college students, Jolley said. More and more students are returning home with only their dirty laundry, packing their computers, desks and mementos in temporary storage rather than haul it around with them.

People are also turning to storage for personal reasons, Jolley said. He recalls one woman who rented a small storage unit to hold one piece of furniture -- and a lot of memories.

After her father passed away a few years ago she inherited his favorite place to sit and ponder -- a wicker chair.

"She said it's too much for her to have it in her house and look at every day," he said. "It makes her cry."

The chair sits, alone, in the middle of the metal unit. The woman regularly visits the unit to sit in the chair and remember her father. Jolley has found her crying, alone in the unit, sad at her loss but fulfilled by the memories.

"You talk to a lot of people in a lot of different situations in this business," Jolley said.

Steve Wynkoop is storing his own favorite chair -- and tables and an armoire.

He recently moved to Las Vegas from south Florida. And now he's moving back.

Wynkoop's company has transferred him a few times over the years and he is storing his furniture in a unit to retrieve when he settles in wherever he lands.

"I've got too much money in it to just get rid of it," Wynkoop said. "It's my stuff and I like it so I want to keep it."

He did sell off a large leather sectional sofa to a good friend and otherwise whittled his belongings down to those things he cannot live without.

"I'll come get it later, but at least I know it's here," Wynkoop said.

Self storage has also become a haven for those who are self-employed.

Steve Wiese enjoys the independence self storage offers. He makes daily trips to his storage unit on the northwest side of town to pick up crackers, pretzels and other dry-food products and distributes them to area grocery stores.

"It's easier, and safer, than going into town to a large warehouse and having to load up," Wiese said.

A semi truck delivers twice a week to Wiese's unit, which he specifically chose for its easy street accessibility. Inside the 10- by 20-foot unit are neatly organized stacks of boxes, and a mounted fan that keeps Wiese cool as he works.

Shirley and Carl Kitchens manage the Storage USA at 7470 W. Cheyenne Ave. in Northwest Las Vegas and see a lot of pharmaceutical representatives, landscape business owners and small business owners using storage for overflow equipment and supplies.

However, most of their clients, Carl Kitchens said, are in a transition -- moving into new homes that aren't ready yet, although they've sold their old one, or their apartment lease is up and they need temporary storage.

But it often becomes permanent.

"They usually will get a smaller unit when they move out to hold stuff that doesn't fit in the new house or they just don't want to sell it so they keep it here," Carl Kitchens said.

The Kitchens moved to Las Vegas in January from Dallas to semiretire and run the storage facility. They live at the front of the 571-unit complex in a one-bedroom, one-story apartment with a large tiled kitchen and oversized living room.

"It's good for security for us to be here" he said.

A large part of their business -- literally -- is storage for large recreational vehicles that many homeowners' associations in nearby Summerlin and Sun City do not allow to be parked on streets.

"We get a lot of people with extra cars or motorcycles, boats, who need a place to park," Carl Kitchens said. "They come in and visit, check out their RV or whatever and go home. They make sure everything is still all right with (the vehicle)."

The couple strike up conversations and even relationships with their clients, who often use the storage units as an annex for their home or office.

"It's a nice place and you meet a lot of interesting people. Every day, something's new," he said.

Such as an apparently homeless man who wears a pressed three-piece suit and tennis shoes and rents a 5-by-5-foot rental unit.

"We think he's homeless, but he doesn't live in the unit," Shirley Kitchens said.

The man has written the couple letters from jail, explaining that he was temporarily detained but should be out in time to pay his monthly bill.

"He comes in and talks to us about why he was in jail, how he got picked up," she said. "He'll sit and talk for a while."

When not otherwise housed, the man visits the unit three or four times a day to change clothes, pick up or drop off his bike or some of other items in the eclectic mix he has stacked to the ceiling of the unit.

"We have seen him walking around town," Shirley Kitchens said. "We've been across town and seen him, just walking, in his suit. We think he's (mentally challenged) or something."

The Kitchens are also counselors in that they help people through some tough life experiences. A woman recently broke down in their office while signing her contract to rent a storage unit.

"Her husband had left her and taken all of their furniture and everything she had left was going in that unit," Shirley Kitchens said. "Poor thing, she didn't know where she was going to live and she didn't have a lot of money. We helped her get settled."

At least temporarily.