I stumbled into a wacky-to-me discovery that turned into a pretty good story. After noticing a few new and very large self-storage facilities around town, I wondered, “what gives?” Who are all these self-storers? How can this be an efficient use of land?

Well, it turns out that self-storage is once of the most secure investments in real estate. Bananas, right? America just happens to be the land of self-storage and it usual arises from a series of unfortunate events.

The headline hints at how ominous this business is: Driven by the “four Ds,” the self-storage is booming.

The four Ds are divorce, death, downsizing, dislocation (meaning job loss).  But still you might be thinking, how prevalent could that be. The answer: VERY!

Of all the self-storage in all the world 75 percent of it is in the United States and we are not slowing down.

The story generated a lot of emails and calls and accusatory speculation on social media about the ills of our consumerist culture, but really at the end of the day, there are a lot of people who are just looking for a little peace of mind and security.

Driven by the “four Ds,” the self-storage is booming also made it to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Akron Beacon Journal, Rapid City Journal.