Storage space at Access Self Storage: trash or treasure?

"This city is full of pack rats," says Sandra Baisden, manager of Access Self Storage facility in Long Island City, Queens. "I have people who will come and clean out their spaces and throw away half the junk they have been storing for years. I don’t know what it is about us, but we just can’t part with things so quickly."

New Yorkers, especially, face more problems with storage than any other city in the country. New York’s population is very dense and packed in some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Other cities, like Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta, are more spread out. To buy a one-bedroom apartment in Chelsea can run $500,000.

"The need for New Yorkers to have space is compounded by many elements," says John Rivera, assistant general manager for Tuck-It-Away storage in Washington Heights. "The least of which lately have been when landlords turn three-bedroom apartments into three one-room studios. It’s better for their bottom line, sure, but this brings in more people with less room to put their things. This is where we come into play."