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"We both had collected a lot of stuff", Forbes concedes. But renting a truck, loading it themselves, driving to a self-storage warehouse-and then reversing the process when they got to their next house-was an intimidating prospect.
Then their broker steered them to a new company that promised to combine all these pieces in, literally, one package. Store to Door LLC of Woburn would bring a container the size of a small tool shed to their home, leave it in the driveway for them to pack, then take it back to the company's warehouse and keep it until they wanted it delivered to the new location.
The company's founder and chief executive, James B. Wayman Jr., 49, calls the concept "mobile self-storage," and it is yet another twist in the fast-growing and highly profitable self-storage industry, adding a service element aimed at attracting customers who previously would have ruled out self-storage as an option.
"We take the 'self' out of self-storage," says Wayman. "We're not high tech, we're not sexy," he says. "We're simple and stupid. But until now everyone has perceived this business as being just storage. We think of it as a service. That's what differentiates us."
Wayman knows a good deal about storage. For 11 years he was president and chief executive of a national business records storage company, Safesite Records Management Corp., of Boston, which he and other investors sold in June to a competitor, Boston-based Iron Mountain Inc., for $62 million.
The Woburn warehouse, with 30,000 square feet of floor space, can hold 1,500 of the 280- cubic-foot containers. Store to Door uses-wooden boxes that Wayman calls "vaults."
The containers are 5 feet wide, 8 feet long, and 7 1/2 feet high, and are standard industrial boxes, commonly used to ship goods in trucks or rail cars. Store to Door covers them with a Mylar jacket when they are taken to customers' homes or business locations, to protect them from weather and to display the firm's logo without having to stencil it on every box.
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Store to Door
Business: Warehousing with pickup and delivery service.
Founded: 1997
Headquarters: Woburn
Other Locations: Chantilly, Va.
Chairman: B. Thomas Golisano
President/CEO: James B. Wayman Jr.
1998 Revenue: $1 million (projected)
"We take the 'self' out of self-storage. ... Until now everyone has perceived this business as being just storage. We think of it as a service."
James B. Wayman Jr.
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