With 49,000 storage facilities in the United States alone, with a total rentable area of 1.9 billion square feet, Victor Dante is addressing a huge market with over 10.6 percent of the adult population renting self storage units across the 50 states.
CEO and founder of U.S. Self Storage, Victor Dante launched his business after extensive research into the needs of American self-storage consumers. Being a self storage owner and operator himself, he knew what the needs of small as well as large operators were.
The average monthly cost for a self storage unit in the United States is $89.12 and 6 main companies own 16.5% of the available self storage units in the country, pushing the balance of power hugely in favour of the large incumbents. The combined enterprise value of the major self storage companies is over $5 billion and with the pandemic putting increasing pressure on household space with office workers relocating to home offices, the market is only going to get bigger.
Dante has managed to achieve a challenging task with the launch of his company U.S. Self Storage, flipping the power balance in favour of the consumer with this online marketplace for comparing self storage. The website is the leading online self storage marketplace in the United States allowing consumers to compare prices and reserve units either on their laptops or on their phones.
A quantum leap from his legal background (Dante is a graduate of the University of Miami and works as a civil trial attorney after receiving his juris doctorate at the St. Thomas University School of Law), the CEO, took all his knowledge and experience in the self storage industry and poured it into an enterprise that soon became one of the best self storage marketplaces in the industry.
U.S. Self Storage is a better user experience than its competitors, allowing customers to easily locate the most appropriately sized storage unit close to their house or business and compare prices.
While demand for self storage is growing across the country, Dante reports that New York, Houston and Los Angeles are among the top 3 most in-demand cities for self storage.
Under his leadership, U.S. Self Storage has brought the archaic world of self storage into the modern day, allowing consumers to compare units with the click of a button. The market is growing, with IBISWorld reporting growing revenues during the pandemic despite a poorly performing economy overall.
U.S. Self Storage has built up a sizable network pulling data in real time, comparing prices so consumers access the cheapest price and locking reservations for consumers without the requirement to visit the storage unit itself, saving time and money.
The market size of self storage is over $23bn with more than 182,063 companies offering self storage solutions. U.S. Self Storage anticipates double digital compound growth rates over the coming years especially as new covid variants force more and more people into permanent work from home situations.
Lisa Kelly
Senior Journalist
https://www.afp.com