Public Storage auctions are good. There's one that I especially like, but I can't mention where it is. Typically there's like 3 people there and lockers go cheap cheap cheap!

I think the numbers could work in smaller markets because your competition would naturally be lower and the maintenance on those sites would take less time, theoretically. But I think you're missing a big opportunity with Atlanta and some Florida markets.. I'm thinking Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville. Smaller cities, like around here (Raleigh/Durham) probably wouldn't work, just because the saturation of storage facilities isn't really here. Although, there's a new one popping up every month it seems!

It's amazing to me as well. However, there is always a high price for high fashion. Would you pay more for a Movado compared to a Timex? Or, if you were car shopping, would you consider a BMW over the Chevy? Everyone has their reasons for buying brand names.. Status, performance, preference.

So on 4th of July (Thursday) we moved our store out of the POD flea market into a nice retail space inside a big building in downtown Cary. Took us about 4 hours to move everything out of the PODs and into the store, not a bad move. Spent the rest of the day Friday setting up, part of Saturday was also dedicated to setup because we were anticipating opening on Monday. Saturday late morning the building owner arrives and starts setting up his business for the day. Around 11:30, he calls my wife and I into his little makeshift office...

Apparently, the other tenants are unhappy with our presence. We have 3 boys and they can be a bit noisy.. They're kids! That was one tenant's complaint. Another tenant complained about our "yard sale" stuff and the customers we'd bring in.. in other words "Mexicans and blacks". Notice the quotes.. not my words, his.. Yes, apparently some of us are still stuck in the 50's.

So, we were asked to leave, he'll absolve the lease and pay me back my security deposit which he had already cashed. The owner apparently has no backbone either..

We spend the rest of the day Saturday packing up, make about $200 while packing up just off their walk in traffic coming over and seeing what we were up to. We spoke to 6 people and they were all excited about our store being there. I explained that we were actually packing up to leave because we weren't welcome. The other shops didn't make a sale from these people. 

After our last sale, the owner comes over to our space to ask when we'd be leaving and commented about the sales we had made. To which I had said, "Yeah, you ever have that feeling like you had just made a huge mistake? You should be feeling that now." He chuckled and reiterated that this wasn't his decision.. But the building has his name on it.. So I just left it at that.

Sunday, we meet with another building owner. He has an old strip mall, built in the 60's. Got a space for $700 including TICAM. We moved our stuff into the space, considerably smaller 650 sq. ft. but it'll work. Signed the lease yesterday. Had to commit to a 3 year lease but we are free to move within the strip mall as need and if space is available.

It was a hellish weekend, and we'll end up putting out more money than originally planned with insurance, utilities, etc. But at least we're in a space where we're welcomed!

In my store, I've only got 650 sq. ft. of space.. (MM I know that I said 900 sq. ft., that's a long story for a fresh post which is coming next) We set up 2 clothing racks, one round and one square multi level. The room that we have set for clothes now feels like it's encumbered by these clothing racks. One rack is for kids clothes, one for men's and women's. We have some cube shelving for jeans/pants, those screw into the wall and shouldn't take up too much space.. But we have way too many clothes for our space.

You know what they say, "sex sells". Rene's lady friend, old what's her face, seems like she's letting her pups out a bit freely this week. So good to see that Storage Wars is keeping it classy.. as usual.

First month free is one I see a lot. First month half off as well. Free use of truck with move in. If I rent, I use the truck to move my stuff out.