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Meet Dave Levin of University Student Storage in Tempe & Downtown

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave Levin.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
When I was in college at the University of Colorado at Boulder, I managed a moving and storage company for about 3 years and realized what a useful service summer storage for college students is. After I graduated, I knew that I wanted to bring the service to another part of the country.

I researched a few different states to potentially open up in and decided that Arizona was a perfect fit. Not only is there a massive student population, but the amazing weather and awesome lifestyle Arizona provided was also a plus. In February of 2014, I packed my bags and moved from Boulder to Tempe.

I officially created University Student Storage near the end of 2013 with the help of my brother, Brian, while I was still living in Colorado, and we started serving customers in the summer of 2014. Like many companies, we started small, serving roughly 40 customers from the ASU Tempe campus. In the years since then, we’ve improved upon our business model, improved our website and our branding, and have established wonderful relationships with students and parents across the state.

Now in our fifth year, University Student Storage has grown to a tremendous presence at Arizona State University and has expanded to the University of Arizona and to Northern Arizona University. We now provide storage to hundreds of students across the state each summer.

Has it been a smooth road?
It’s been a smooth road, for the most part. The biggest change was moving away from my family in Colorado and going to Arizona, without really even knowing much about the state.

Other than that, I imagine that the struggles we went through early on are pretty typical of most new businesses. Luckily, I had (and still have) an amazing support system – namely my wife, my brother, and my parents – who have always encouraged me to continue whenever things started to look bleak.

I think the biggest hurdle was realizing that actually “starting” a business isn’t too difficult, but attracting customers and gaining the trust of the community around you takes a massive amount of work, and that it isn’t nearly as glamorous as movies and TV shows make it seem. There’s a lot more “scraping” and “clawing” your way to success than simply doing some paid advertising and calling it a day, especially if you’re running on an extremely tight budget like we were.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the University Student Storage story. Tell us more about the business.
University Student Storage provides a stress-free, extremely convenient summer storage solution to college students. When a student signs up for storage with us, they receive complimentary packing supplies (boxes, tape, etc…) before they move out, as well as pick-up from their current residence, storage over the summer (or school year if they go abroad), and delivery to their new residence when they return to school. While we also provide services like shipping and residential moves, we really specialize in providing the best summer storage experience available.

I know it might sound like a cliche, but I would say that I’m most proud of the relationships that we’ve built with not only the students but the parents that we encounter. They know how much work it is to fly from out-of-state, pack up a dorm room, and bring everything home, only to repeat the process in August when school starts again. The appreciation that we see from them after making their lives easier, and saving them a ton of money, is probably the best part of the job.

What sets us apart from others is that we are an Arizona company through and through. What I mean by that is that our company started here, is headquartered here, and provides service only to students here in Arizona. When a customer calls us with a question or concern, he or she is speaking either directly to me, or to a manager within the company. Students and parents don’t have to worry about communication being relayed through a third-party call center, or an office somewhere out of state while a contracted local moving company handles their belongings.

On top of that, being local means our prices are about 40% lower than any of our competitors!

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
It’s currently such a niche market that it’s difficult to predict what major changes might occur. Right now, many online advertising companies don’t even have an adequate category to place our ads into without causing some overlap into industries that we don’t necessarily fall under.

With the storage industry being so stagnant for decades, I can honestly say that specialized storage, like the service we provide, is the shift that the industry has been waiting for.

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