Fall Has Finally Arrived

As we near the middle of October here at Storage Station on 25 James Street and 29 Flint Road, Toms River, we are trying to catch up on all of the last minute maintenance that needs to be done before winter sets in. There are so many little things to do that are easier in the warmer weather and need to be addressed now. Some of our doors on James St have to be repaired, and the Manager is busy attending to that task.  Over on Flint Road a crew of painters are busy repainting all of the buildings and hanging new numbers on all of our units. I have to say they are giving the place a real fresh look. They want to finish before it gets too cold and so far it looks terrific. I am looking forward to seeing it completely done.

This is such a busy time of year for us. Most of our seasonal tenants are back. Some tenants that had their boats in the water all summer enjoying Barnegat Bay have now covered and stored them for another winter at our Flint Road location. This also goes for our RV and Landscaping crowd. Most of our landscapers have their trailers with their equipment stored until next April when their new season starts. Right now they’re taking off a little time before plowing season begins. 

Our RV owners are also coming in and parking for the winter now that their summer adventures are behind them.  What great stories I hear about their adventures to all parts of this country. Let’s not forget our wonderful group of tenants that are motorcycle lovers. All summer long I would see this group going in and out of the gate as the wind is blowing their hair, and they have huge smile on their faces as they depart on another adventure. Now one by one I see them covering their bikes as they put them in their storage unit for another winter.

I notice that each group of tenants didn’t know each other when they made the decision to store their vehicles on Flint Road, but all have  become friends that are willing to help one another with advice, opinions, or just friendly kindness. It always amazes me when I see these friendships blooming. Our clients are from all walks of life, but they have a commonality by storing at our James Street or Flint Road locations. These tenants feel like this is their second family. They reward us by sending all of their friends to also store with us.  A good portion of our new clientele has been sent to us by someone who already stores here and recommends it to their family and friends.  This means so much to us knowing that what we provide are appreciated. We strive to help everyone that walks through our door with their self storage needs and although we have come across some very unique storage requests, we have always been able to come up with a solution that works.

So please give us a call with any of your storage questions or needs. We are here at our James Street location here in Toms River, NJ Monday through Friday from 8:30AM to 4:30PM and on Saturday from 9:30AM to 2:30PM. Let us help you find the right solution for you.

The art of landscaping

Most of us take what we see around us on a daily basis for granted. On our drive to work or taking the kids off to school we tend to have tunnel vision. Next time you hop into your car off to run errands or maybe visit friends or relatives take the time to enjoy the view, whether commercial or residential the view often times is what most would call picture perfect, and that my friends takes a lot of hard work by professionals otherwise known as landscapers.

We don’t often take the time to think about them but there’s more to what they do than meets the eye.

They are not just big kids out making a mess playing in the dirt or showing off their latest and greatest big boy toy Landscaping is both a mixture of science, art and design. Let’s start with the art and design portion. In art we think of what a designer might put forth for us with color on our walls or features in our home, a landscaper works much in the same way, they have a vision of what they would like the surroundings to be, they use the elements that are within nature and arrange them accordingly maybe by adding or removing certain elements, much like a painter, they look, have a vision and create. Here is a bit of history on the word landscaper, it goes back a few centuries…..I bet you didn’t know that did you? 

Word History: Landscape, first recorded in 1598, was borrowed as a painters' term from Dutch during the 16th century, when Dutch artists were pioneering the landscape genre. The Dutch word landschap had earlier meant simply "region, tract of land" but had acquired the artistic sense, which it brought over into English, of "a picture depicting scenery on land."

Here is a bit of art featuring design…. The talented painters of centuries past as well as our modern day Picasso’s gave us the vision to take art and create it wherever we can. Both painters and landscapers have the same goal to create a beautiful environment for us to see everyday, where a painter uses brushes a landscaper uses tools, many different types of tools to create their art.
 Landscapers use basic hand tools, including long-handled maintenance implements like rakes, shovels, picks and lawn sweepers to create and maintain lawns and flower gardens. Smaller tools typically include spades and trowels for planting, transplanting and maintaining small plants and flowers and several types of shears to prune and shape bushes, shrubs and small trees...Power tools, using gas or electricity when the jobs are bigger and they have a need for speed, large hedges and tree limbs need the power of power tools. Lawnmowers and leaf blowers are two of a landscaper's most important tools. Let’s not forget that a chain saw often is indispensible. There are gas mowers and push mowers, mowers you can ride on either standing or sitting; there are mowers for every type of lawn out there. Blowers come in super handy, they don’t just blow leaves they blow grass and debris as well, so a super fantastic cleaning tool they are for sure-what did we ever do without them!! Let us not forget the most basic of tools, gloves for hands they have safety purposes al well, goggles for the eyes, those are a must have. The list goes on and on, weed killer, fertilizer…… I’m sure you get the picture…..

Science, oh yes science, you didn’t think I was serious! Ok so we are not finding new forms of life but it plays and important role in landscaping, just as much as art and design play a role. When making changes to an environment especially outdoors you have to be careful as to not change the basic structure of nature. If you do not have basic science skills you can inadvertently destroy ecosystems, alter inhabitants of animals that live in the great outdoors by simply digging too big a hole, a hole in the wrong spot, or by introducing non-native species .  So yes, science is very much a key player in a landscapers job. They are indeed many different aspects of the job, landscape engineer, ecologist, planning architecture, and design. Nature is vast and so is the job of the landscaper.

Now where on earth do they put all this stuff? Storage…… some drive around with pod like mini houses on the back of their trucks or they may have a pod on wheels they attach to the back of a pick up truck, it depends on the business and the size of the business. If you happen to be a larger company you might own a pull along that carry’s all your tools, and if you are that big you may have a place to park your trucks. If you are on the smaller side then you utilize a Storage Facility, We here at Storage Station, depending on the facility, can accommodate pretty much any sort of landscaper-big, small and somewhere in between . Some of our facilities have parking for large vehicles and we all certainly have space to store all of their tools, any where form a small sized storage unit to a double door storage unit the landscapers use them all. Some keep extra equipment they may not need on a daily basis or maybe they put into storage their excess, hey we all love a good sale and sometimes when buying bulk for a business you just need the extra space. The great thing about storage is the ability to upsize or downsize your storage unit. If you are a new business and need something along the size of a 5x10 storage unit then progress into bigger jobs you can easily transition to a larger unit. Some rent the larger ones for easy access and easy accessibility. Whatever the need storage units are always helpful things to have available.

Social Media

As I fumble in my pocketbook for my reading glasses, I say a little curse under my breath. If it wasn’t for text messaging and Facebook I would never know what is going on in my children’s’ lives, but all that typing on a tiny keyboard is exhausting to me. I could find out everything that I need to know if they would just pick up the phone and talk to me for 2 minutes. Instead they choose to take 20 minutes typing back and forth. If that’s not bad enough, then I have to figure out what ttyl, lmao and all of the other acronyms they throw at me really mean.  It’s hard enough when you get to my age to keep up with the normal without throwing all of this technology into the mix. I have to be honest though, if it wasn’t for my kids I would still be in a technology time warp not knowing what was going on. Over the past couple of years I have really noticed a growing gap in the social skills of the young adults compared to the middle age people, myself included. A face to face conversation with the younger group is becoming harder and harder to come by. It’s all done by email, text, instant messenger, Skype and the variety of other methods out there today.

Working in the Self Storage business you would think that I wouldn’t encounter any social media  problems, but you would be surprised. As our clientele becomes younger and younger we’re getting more and more requests for rate information, or reservations for our parking spots, or storage units via the internet. I had one gentleman tell me he found us on Facebook, and decided to stop in and rent a 10 X 10 unit with us because we were nice enough to friend him, and if I had a nickel for every time someone  told me  that they googled us, I would have a lot of nickels. Storage Station has always embraced new technology, and social media outlets making it easier for you the consumer to find us on the web.

Our website, www.storagestations.com  is easy to navigate, and is chock full of information about our company as well as useful storage information. It also lists all of our locations in New Jersey and New York so you can easily find the facility that suits your needs. Not able to find what you are looking for? We are only a mouse click away, ready to answer any of your questions or concerns via email, or phone. Even though we welcome new technology, we still embrace the traditional ways of doing business. Good old fashioned face to face contact, and also personal phone calls. We are never to busy to help any of our tenants with what ever they need to make their stay with us a pleasant experience. Many of our new tenants are friends and family from our past clientele. When you like what you do and treat your customers right, word gets around!

So as I get back to my texting, a part of me longs for the good old days before all of this confusing technology, but a larger part of me tries to embrace it all so that even though we are all from different generations, we can still stay connected, and when you think about it, that’s all that really matters!

P.S. To see our locations - Visit our Youtube Channel for a virtual Tour 

The end of Summer

Well here it is another week has gone by and here I am going through the golden gates of Storage Station in South Toms River in NJ. Today as I make my rounds I release that this is the end of summer. What makes me think about it is the fact I see the leaves have started to fall off the trees.

WOW can you believes this where did summer go. We at Storage Station Stores in South Toms River and in Toms River  NJ  have been working hard this summer with the cleaning painting cutting grass and oh yes pulling those nasty weeds.

As I am working around I have a chance to talk to some of the tenants that are at their units today.

Most tenants are like I am trying to get the hang of it that summer is gone. Some tenants are happy because the end of summer means that their kids are back in school. Some of the tenants are now putting their summer things in the storage unit that they have rented and getting out the winter things.

Well for us in the South Toms River Store in NJ and Toms River Store in NJ have to start getting the things that we need for the up and coming winter months. We have to make sure that we have the shovels and also that we have enough salt ready. Make sure that the snow blower is ready.

Boy as I talk to a lot of tenants that come in to pay or stop by to sign and also the new tenants that are coming in to rent a unit or store a car or boat or an rv we all are wishing the same thing that we have a winter like the one we had in 2011 WOW would that be nice to see.

We at all the Storage Station Stores are happy because the summer has been good for us in an over all picture. The new list of rented units by the new tenants are up and all the summer work is just about done that we had listed to do.

I my self as a manager of the Storage Station Stores in South Toms River NJ and Toms River NJ am glad that fall is here. I like the nice fall weather for doing my outside work cool in the morning and a little warm in the afternoon. Fall weather also make it nice at home as to where we can sit outside on the deck and enjoy the cool weather and also enjoy that nice hot cup of coffee instead of the hot weather where the bugs come out and like to bit you and make you want to get up and go in the house.

WOW again it is hard to believe that summer is gone and fall is here. As I sit in the office and am Moving in a new tenant we can see outside that the wind has pick up and can see the leaves blowing around that have already fallen off the trees and bushes. After I got done with the new tenants and show them their unit  I made a stop at the maintenance shop to make sure that the rake for picking up the leaves was in good shape and that we had plenty of leaf bags to put the leaves in.

Well it is time to sign off until the next time so to all be safe in want you are doing and have a nice fall.
                                                                                                                 
  

As the end of summer approaches

Back to school time, those of us with school age children, those of you without still feel the changes. Suddenly the isles in every store, no matter if it is a grocery store or along the lines of a CVS, are lined with bins of pencils, markers, glue sticks, erasers… you name it every product closely related for kids and their supplies are everywhere. Even odd items like pillow pets make their way out front; personally my daughter does not need yet another pillow pet, as her room is vastly becoming a zoo. With the school year beginning it brings us into another season, the fall with its cool days and all the green changing into brilliant shades of gold, bronze and reds that are truly beautiful to see.

It also reminds us that once again things need to get re-organized. Maybe we bought extra outdoor furniture or  new lawn care items that are now in need of a space to store them, taking one look in your garage and moaning at the lack of space you hop online and search for local storage. We here at Storage Station know all too well what the change of seasons bring, I had one renter go back to college and let me know she will give me a call in the spring since she will be needing the space at the end of the semester. Most phone calls I receive inquiring about storage have mostly been the need for people to clear out the garage so they can actually put their car back in where it belongs.

I look at the squirrels running around my yard every morning so very busy collecting and digging in for the winter yet to come, we are the same way; as soon as the first chill hits us we are busy, no more lazy summer days poolside with a good book. In the beginning of the spring we gear up to take everything out of storage that has been hiding all winter long, we lovingly clean all the furniture, new propane tanks for the grill. I think because the weather is so nice and warm and we spend so much time outdoors we wind up with more stuff then we had planned, we are not locked in like we are in the winter time, in the winter we are more confined to interior spaces so we don’t necessarily buy as much in turn we don’t need more storage space, well at least in my house that is the case,

I have a simple kind of attitude toward things, which I am told I am lucky to have…. If I don’t need it I do not own it, if it doesn’t have a purpose or do something I do not own it.  I don’t want to have to find a spot to put it away, yes I like things simple. To simplify things my renters come to me for space, for all the things they do not use on a regular basis or even a seasonal basis, some trade one season for another here, others just for the winter. I have one who stores his motorcycle in a unit, he tells me it is ideal, we are gated ,fenced and lighted so he parks it covers it and is I don’t see him again until the spring smiling from ear to ear, when he is ready to break free once again and hit the road. TTYS

As Summer Draws To An End

With Labor Day just around the corner, things are really bustling here on 25 James St. and 29 Flint Rd. in Toms River. Everyone is trying to cram in any last remaining fun in the sun before September comes and school starts. The roads are teeming with cars full of families headed to the beach, trying to enjoy the ocean before the temperatures start to dip. School shopping is in full force with every store offering unbelievable deals on anything from school supplies to back to school clothes. I also see the sad faces of the teenagers resigned to the fact that their carefree days of summer are coming to an end, and the little kids that are bursting with excitement and anticipation about all the great things that they will be doing in school. They all know that once September is here things go back to normal.

You see, living at the Jersey Shore to me is wonderful .  I love the fact that I can enjoy the Ocean, Barnegat Bay, and all of the other natural beauty of the area. There is a peaceful quiet that prevails for about nine months out of the year, then, WHAM!! Summer comes and everybody from every part of the state, as well as several other states invade our tiny area. Driving anywhere in town takes twice as long, and forget about the local businesses and vendors. They are buzzing with activity trying to keep up with the high demand for their product. You can’t blame those out of town folks.  We do have all of the amenities for summer fun and relaxation.  The local businesses also count on the additional revenue from the summer tourist season. This is the only way they can stay in business during the slower winter months.  Down this way it isn’t uncommon for your entire year to hinge on your earnings during the summer season. But, just the thought of getting back to normal is very thrilling to me. I am used to being first or second on line at WaWa, and this entire summer I averaged about tenth in line. Here I am on my way to work, grabbing a quick cup of coffee, and everyone else is wearing bathing suits and flip flops ready to have a great day on the beach. I would feel so jealous until I thought about who the lucky one really is! You see, they enjoy our beautiful area while it is crowded and congested, while we get to enjoy it all year round. This makes me feel better as I stand in that long line.

The one thing that I do miss once summer is gone is all of our tenants that use our facility for their summer fun. They store their jet skis, campers, and camping gear. Once summer is over they park for the winter, and start planning for their next summer adventure. We don’t see them often during the winter months. Every once in a while they will stop down to check their belongings and see if they OK.  They’ll stop in to chat and let us know what has been going on with them.

Well, good bye Summer! You were beautiful while you lasted, but for this Ocean County resident it will bring peace and quiet back into my small little town.

HOW CAN IT BE AUGUST ALREADY!

As I sit here at 25 James Street I reflect back to how busy a week it has been. Typically the beginning of the month is always hectic with tenants stopping in to pay their monthly storage bill and catch up on what has been going on. I look forward to seeing everyone and hearing all about their month.

Our location on 29 Flint Road in South Toms River has been especially busy this week. This is such a great location for outside parking. It is conveniently located to all of the major areas in Toms River, Beachwood, and surrounding areas. This week alone we rented 6 parking spots. I guess word has gotten out about our great rates and accessibility.

Another trend that I’m noticing here in Toms River is a some people are deciding to live on their boats especially during the summer months so they can enjoy the water full time. We have a number of tenants at our Flint St. location that store a lot of their belongings and have taken to the seafaring way of life. With all of the larger items from a home in a self storage unit, they can get to anything they need, but also live virtually clutter free, and when you’re living on a boat every bit of space matters.

 Over on 25 James we have so many long term tenants that rent in the area and just need that extra bit of space. They are in and out all of the time grabbing what they need for that weekend party, or bringing their off season clothes to store.  Christmas time is always busy with everyone coming to get their Christmas decorations and lights out of storage, excited to start decorating their homes for the holidays. We have a number of tenants that store all of their Christmas presents and goodies in their units so nobody can peek, and everyone will be excited Christmas morning.  I’m thinking we should change our name around the holidays from Storage Station to Santa Station.

The one thing that I have been really noticing is an increase in younger people who were living on their own, but have lost their job, or apartment. They are storing a lot of their furniture and moving back with Mom and Dad until they can get back on their feet. I meet so many well educated young adults and worry about their future. I have three grown children facing this challenge and it is not easy. Having said that I also see an enthusiasm, and a relish for life that can’t be extinguished by the challenges they face.  By renting a self storage unit they are able to hold on to all of the things that they have acquired while living on their own. Being a parent in this scenario, there is no way they are bringing all of that stuff home with them, so this is a win win situation. When they have re established themselves in the working world, their processions will be waiting for them, ready for their new place.

So, let the summer continue as beautiful as it has been. Down here in Toms River we are all enjoying the warm days, and flurry of activities that go along with it.  Through all of your summer travels please remember we are always here for your storage needs.