For the first time in a long time, Ridgefield has U-Haul services which had been curiously absent from the city where the business was founded. The do-it-yourself moving service is only part of what Ridgefield Mini Storage brings to the table, with the self-storage company opening its gate Nov. 18.
Owned by Erika and Graham Lasee, The 254-unit storage business sits on the East side of Interstate 5 in Ridgefield. Previous to working on getting the 3.3-acre lot with 40,000 square feet of building footprint, Erika had been an instructor and owner at two yoga studios in Vancouver, though with two young children, running between the two studios became a strain.
"I couldn't give the yoga studios the love they needed and our family the love they needed," Erika said. "Somebody was losing out, and it was mostly the studios."
As a solution the Lasees began planning the storage business about two-and-a-half years ago, Erika said, and sold off the studios about two years ago. The journey to the opening took longer than expected, as she explained a side-effect of the booming building industry had smaller, one-off developers like the Lasees often overlooked for projects with big-name companies.
Thanks to the help of the eventual ground contractor and the city of Ridgefield, the Lasees finally opened up late last year and if first impressions of business are anything, their business is starting off strong. Initially based on a feasibility study, the business was only expected to have eight tenants in a month. As of Jan. 4 Lasee reckoned there were about 35 units in use, less than two months in.
The switch from yoga to storage has allowed for more flexibility in taking care of the Lasee’s school-aged children, and with Graham, who works for the Longview Fire Department on a firefighter's schedule, it allowed for some flexibility on when he could manage the business.
Regarding renters, Erika said the demographics have been "across the board" from people moving, clearing garage space and downsizing — the usual uses. One of the more surprising kinds of clients have been businesses, Erika said. In some cases a particular business wouldn't have use for a storefront, so keeping inventory in a location like self-storage made economical sense.
Still, there are businesses using the facility for their own storage, much like families and individuals would.
"If you think of like a Realtor or a mortgage broker, whoever needs to keep paperwork for seven years or something like that, how do they have the space in their office?" Erika reasoned.
Other than hundreds of storage lockers, Ridgefield mini storage has also brought back a hometown original as the business also features U-Haul truck services. The do-it-yourself moving company was founded in the city in 1945, though about 50 years ago it relocated to Phoenix.
"We want to be that hometown mini storage, self storage, and bringing U-Haul was important to us because it is the home of the (business)," Erika said. "Ridgefield is huge with community, and we love being a part of this community."
Although it caused delays when initially setting up, the family-owned business eyes on being personable with the community as what would set them apart from larger chain operations.
"We're not like this huge franchise of any sort, so you're going to get great customer service, a great personal touch," Erika said.
As the proud owners of their own self-storage facility, the Lasees are familiar with the hit A&E show “Storage Wars” which chronicles several professional storage locker auction buyers in a reality TV format. Though the business is fresh enough to not have the needed delinquent payments to undertake an auction, the chance at being a location for a Washington episode of the show is an opportunity the Lasees would take.
“Maybe we will get those guys down here,” Erika remarked.
