Transforming Urban Spaces Into Profitable Storage Facilities w/ Peter Smyth from White Label Storage

Self Storage Lab

Company Overview & Background

• Founded by Peter and Alex (met at Harvard Business School)
• Started as Local Locker in NYC - urban storage platform focused on unused spaces
• Evolved into White Label Storage - third-party management service
• Alex just had second boy (now 5 kids between the two founders)
• Currently operate 30 stores under management platform
• 50+ stores in pipeline
• Growth from 15 to 30 stores in past year

Business Model Evolution

• Local Locker: B2C model focused on urban storage

• White Label Storage: B2B management service

Operational Philosophy

• Client-first approach at every level
• Built own website to reduce client costs ($500/month industry standard)
• Focus on stripping out unnecessary costs
• Improved onboarding process based on Rippling’s milestone approach

• Emphasizes building partnerships vs being fee provider

• Treats single-asset owners’ properties as retirement plans

Technology & Innovation

• Recently launched streamlined payment collection system
• Developing proprietary revenue management tool (Q3 launch target)

Team Structure & Management

• 30 total employees
• ~20 in operations (split between facility level and customer service)
• Separate sales/marketing and local teams
• Implemented specialized roles to reduce “cognitive burden”

Market Outlook & Industry Trends

* Seeing demand normalization post-COVID correction

• Extra Space potentially returning to smaller markets
• Major challenge: “slash rate” promos creating pricing confusion
• Focus on maintaining steady rates vs chasing promotional pricing
• Under-investment in assets remains common industry problem
• Expects institutional buyers to return to remote markets