Fred Bernstein

Americans are hiding lots of stuff in self-storage facilities, but now we have to hide the self-storage facilities.

When I put my things in storage 35 years ago, there was only one self-storage facility in northwestern Connecticut.

And now there are probably 50.

They're dead zones.

And so a lot of cities and towns are trying to keep them away or at least confine them to certain industrial zones.

There's at least one that is disguised as a row of houses.

That's in Bristol, Rhode Island.

So this long facade is dressed up as if it were six or eight separate houses with different materials and colors of paint.

And it's not fooling anyone.

It's at least a $60 billion a year business in the U.S.,

And anecdotally, the margins are extremely high for people who own these facilities.

12% of households in the U.S.

have at least one remote storage space.

Houses are getting bigger and bigger.

Family sizes are getting smaller and smaller, and still people need a lot of storage space.