Article takeaways
- Modern storage facilities offer business amenities like Wi-Fi, electricity, conference rooms, and 24/7 access, making them viable alternatives to traditional office spaces for small businesses and startups.
- Month-to-month rental agreements provide flexibility compared to long-term commercial leases, allowing businesses to scale storage space up or down as needs change without long-term commitments.
- Storage units serve multiple business functions like inventory management, equipment storage, document archiving, and fulfillment centers, with climate control protecting temperature-sensitive goods and records.
For small businesses and startups, finding a business headquarters with enough room for your day-to-day operations doesn’t always fit your budget. Rather than dive headfirst into an expensive or long-term lease for a space you’ll outgrow in a few months, consider housing your business at a self storage facility.
A commercial storage unit is a much cheaper alternative to leasing an office or warehouse space. And with amenities like Wi-Fi, electrical outlets, and business centers, storage facilities can support your operations.
Maybe you need a place to store seasonal inventory to save valuable space in your business warehouse. Or maybe you need an off-site business office, extra inventory storage space, or a primary fulfillment center.
Either way, you’ve come to the right place. Our helpful guide will explain how to find the ideal self-storage facilities for a small business headquarters. We’ll talk about the business storage features to look out for and the benefits of using a storage unit for a small business.
We’ll also reveal how our helpful Storage.com search tool can help you find a storage unit near you that has everything you need.
Ideal Storage Facilities For Storage Unit Small Business Headquarters
While a storage unit may sound like a less-than-desirable place to house your business, storage facilities that allow tenants to work from their units strive to make sure the spaces they offer are up to snuff.
Start searching for a storage space to use as a small business HQ, and you’ll quickly find that not all self-storage facilities are created equal. Many traditional facilities are primarily designed and permitted for residential storage, offering basic security and access.
That said, a growing segment of the market is catering specifically to commercial needs, modernizing its offerings to support the operational demands of small businesses. These advanced facilities provide more than just a secure, locked storage space. They provide amenities that can directly contribute to a small business owner’s efficiency and range.
Features like Wi-Fi connectivity are becoming standard, allowing both tenants and business owners to operate from their units with reliable internet access for communication, order processing, and management.
Other facilities offer electrical outlet support in their storage units so tenants can power computers, specialized equipment, or even small machinery.
Some facilities, like Elmwood Self Storage in Harahan, LA, go further still. Elmwood Storage has a conference room with a projector available to business tenants, as well as 24-hour access to the facility.
Modern storage facilities invest in state-of-the-art security systems, including 24/7 surveillance, controlled access gates, and on-site management and security personnel. Enhanced security features protect your extra inventory, sensitive documents, and critical equipment around the clock. More and more self-storage facilities offer 24-hour access, a beneficial feature for e-commerce business owners who fulfill orders outside of standard business hours or need to access tools or materials for early morning or late evening client appointments.
STORExpress in Pittsburgh, Pa., is another facility that specializes in business storage. This unique facility combines traditional storage units with repurposed spaces in order to provide tenants with whatever they need.
In fact, STORExpress has dedicated business units and offices that come fully-loaded with carpeting and air conditioning.
Sales Manager Jeff Ley says it was easy to “renovate [the space] for startups and small businesses.” There’s even furniture available to tenants who choose to run their businesses from STORExpress, though Ley says they’re welcome to bring their own.
If tenants want to rent a traditional unit (with climate control, of course) to save money, Ley says they can do that, too, since Wi-Fi is accessible across the STORExpress property.
“It all depends on what the person is comfortable with,” he says. “Some people just don’t want to work in a raw storage space. The offices will work better for them.”
Lastly, you’ll want to book a storage unit for your small business HQ at a business storage facility that offers tailored services like package acceptance.
These modern storage facilities will accept deliveries on behalf of tenants, saving you the trouble of being present during delivery times while ensuring that important shipments don’t go unnoticed or get returned to sender.
Features That Help You Use Storage Units For Small Business
Choosing the right storage unit size is an important first step for business storage. Storage facilities are only the first step. You’ll need to look beyond the basic square footage and consider how each amenity can directly benefit your operations. Here’s what you should look out for before renting commercial storage units for small business use:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Security Features | Top priority. Hunt for places armed with round-the-clock surveillance, foolproof access control, and a team on the ground, ensuring only authorized entry. |
| 24-Hour Access | Your operations don’t clock out, and neither should your entry to the storage. Ensure the facility offers business storage with 24/7 access, fitting your non-traditional hours. |
| Drive-up Access | Time is money, particularly when loading or unloading goods. Opt for units where you can drive right up, streamlining the process. |
| Accessible Entry | Seek out locations designed to accommodate vehicles of all sizes, especially if you’re loading and unloading extra inventory items back and forth from another business location. |
| Climate Control | Temperature-sensitive goods, office equipment, and seasonal inventory all require special care. A unit with climate control maintains a steady environment, shielding them from damage. |
| Deliveries Accepted | Allowing shipments to go straight to your storage space, bypassing the need for you to be physically present, sure is convenient. |
| Loading Bays | More room means less time shuffling items around. Facilities with ample loading bays are a boon for transporting large or unwieldy items. |
| Wide Drive Aisles | Ensuring your facility has broad drive aisles can save you from navigational headaches, especially when maneuvering larger vehicles. |
What If Storage Facilities Don’t Let You Use Storage Units for a Small Business?
While many modern self-storage facilities are adapting to accommodate business needs, not all facilities permit their tenants to operate a full-fledged business directly from their units. Local regulations can vary, and some traditional facilities may restrict activities that could violate local zoning laws or disrupt other tenants.
Use the unit for keeping extra inventory, seasonal inventory, archiving vital business records, or storing bulky equipment that isn’t frequently used. This is particularly beneficial for home-based small business owners looking to create a physical separation between their professional and personal lives.
There are plenty of traditional self-storage facilities conveniently located near residential areas. This means you can find a secure storage solution that is easily accessible from your home, primary business location, or halfway between the two, to cut down on travel time.
The flexibility of month-to-month leases is common in many storage facilities. Short-term storage means you aren’t locked into long-term commitments. If your storage needs fluctuate, you can easily upsize, downsize, or even terminate your lease as your business needs evolve.
Whether you’re storing files, inventory, or equipment, storage security features help protect your livelihood. Keep an eye out for traditional facilities that have gated access (a fence around the facility with coded gate entry), video surveillance (cameras around the facility), or on-site security (a facility manager who remains on the premises during facility hours).
Benefits of Using Storage Units for Small Business HQ
The strategic use of a storage unit by a small business can boost the business owner’s bottom line and streamline the workflow.
An immediate benefit is the ability to effectively manage seasonal inventory. Retailers, for example, can stock up on seasonal goods during off-peak times. Taking advantage of bulk pricing ensures they have enough stock for high-demand periods.
Small businesses with fluctuating production or sales volumes can use store excess finished goods, production tools, or raw materials without cluttering their main business space. This extra inventory management space can prevent stockouts, improve customer satisfaction, and optimize sales and order fulfilment.
Storage units also house equipment and archives for businesses that require specialized tools and machinery. Businesses with fleet vehicles that are not in constant use can find secure, off-site vehicle storage. Businesses can securely store years of financial records, legal documents, or sensitive photographic materials in a climate-controlled storage unit. Temperature and humidity-controlled storage keeps these sensitive records safe and accessible while also reducing clutter and compliance risks.
Storage facilities that serve business tenants, such as STORExpress and Elmwood Self Storage, also offer file and record storage in addition to commercial storage.
“We have a records division where we help everyone get their records organized,” Ley says of STORExpress, explaining that tenants essentially create a database that STORExpress then organizes and maintains.
“We can pull a file, deliver it for them—whatever they need,” Gardes says of Elmwood Self Storage.
For entrepreneurs and startups, the benefits of storage units for small business headquarters extend beyond extra locking space. Other benefits include:
- Flexibility: Businesses need to change a lot. Many self-storage facilities offer month-to-month rental agreements, so there’s no need for the long-term commitments associated with traditional commercial leases. This flexibility allows you to scale your space up or down as your inventory or needs change. Consult our storage unit size guide and choose from a wide range of storage unit sizes so you’re only paying for the space you require.
- Enhance Security Features: Keeping things safe is a big deal. Self-storage units have 24/7 video surveillance, gates, alarms, and on-site management and security personnel to help protect your business assets.
- Cost-effective: Renting extra office space can be expensive, but if you find a storage unit with electricity, you can convert your unit into a home office. Or you can free up office space at home by using a self-storage unit as a centralized hub for inventory, a staging area for projects, or an archival center for documents.
- Accessibility and convenience: Need to get to your stuff at any time? No problem. Business storage with 24-hour access is pretty common, so you don’t have to wait to get things done. Plus, the modern storage business offers advanced benefits like online account management software, allowing tenants to make payments, communicate with staff, and manage their accounts while they’re on the go.
How Storage.com Can Help You Find Storage Units For Small Business Headquarters
By now, you should have a pretty good idea of how to use a storage unit for small business needs. From flexible storage units that give a startup room to grow and manage their inventory, to industrial-sized spaces for bulky equipment, the solutions are tailored to commercial needs.
With benefits like flexible rental agreements, scalable unit sizes, top-tier security, and convenient access, self-storage business use is a sound strategy.
But as small businesses may already know, market research is key. And we’re not just talking about investigating the storage unit occupancy rates of a given facility to analyze the local demand.
Not all storage facilities have security cameras and alarms, for example. And depending on the type of products you’re storing and selling, the need for climate-controlled storage might be a non-negotiable.
Lucky for you, Storage.com is here to help.
Storage.com lets you browse and compare self-storage units using amenity filters that isolate the storage facilities in your area with all the ideal storage features your e-commerce company needs.
Just punch your zip code into our handy Storage.com search tool, and you’ll see what we mean.
We’ll filter through the thousands of local storage facilities for you, making it easy to find the storage unit that best fits your online business’s needs.
Whether you’re looking for a storage unit with climate control, electricity, alarms, 24-hour access, drive-up access, or security cameras, Storage.com makes the process quick and painless.
All you have to do is choose a storage unit and your move-in date, and we’ll take care of the rest. And if you have any questions about commercial or business storage that this guide didn’t answer, feel free to ask. Our storage representatives are just a phone call away.
