Look Who’s
Talking
Troy Mclellan President And CEO Of Public Storage Canada By Erica Shatzer
dustry was faring very well. REITs were reporting double-digit, year-over-year fi- nancial increases; occupancy rates and rental rates were steadily rising, and new development was at an all-time high thanks to increased investor inter- est from the “recession-resistant” na- ture of the asset class. In fact, so much new supply was being planned and built that industry veterans were beginning to worry about the risk of market satura- tion in 2020, as rental rates and occu- pancy rates in some overbuilt markets had begun to flatline.
T Then COVID-19 hit, and the industry
braced itself for the unknown. Past eco- nomic downturns had given self-storage operators some valuable experience, but there were countless uncertainties to manage.
ake a moment to reflect upon the pre-COVID days. For about a decade following the Great Recession, the self-storage in-
Troy McLellan, president and CEO of Public Storage Canada, says that the
Great Recession enabled the company to better prepare for the inevitable shift in its customer profile as a result of the pandemic. “We were ready for it,” he says, adding that downturns spur a different kind of consumer—one that rents a storage unit out of necessity rather than luxury.
Though the self-storage industry has always catered to people in transi-
tion, McLellan notes that economic slumps trigger downsizes. And when both commercial and residential customer bases are looking to downsize at the same time, self-storage is seen as a “cost-effective option.”
“Business flourished through 2020,” says McLellan, who cites that Public
Storage Canada reacted to events in 2020 and made vast changes to its operations to better serve its customers and employees.
Tackling Change Similar to other self-storage operators, Public Storage Canada was faced with operational challenges at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s primary concern was safety of its staff and tenants, and “demand for technology and touchless transactions” from both parties helped alleviate that matter.
“Customers and employees alike want to do business through technol- ogy,” says McLellan. Public Storage had some online capabilities at the
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June 2021
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