12.30.2020

With the pandemic forcing more people to work and live in the confines of their home, people are repurposing their space and using storage to help facilitate this change. COVID-19 has also increased the need for self-storage as a result of an increase in demand for inventory space driven by the rapid growth of ecommerce transactions by small and mid-sized businesses. There has been a big shift in the market where storage facilities are now considered to be a mainstream extension of the home or office space instead of just a place to store things you never want to see.

The Toronto Star sat down with Shawn Shanmuganathan, co-founder of Vaultra Storage, for his thoughts on the pandemic’s overall impact on the self-storage industry and his plans going forward.

With an eye to the future, Shanmuganathan plans to dominate the self-storage market through the launch of a dozen self-storage facilities in the Greater Toronto Area starting with their first at 200 Fairbank Avenue in the Castlefield and Dufferin area of Toronto.

The opening of Vaultra’s brand-new Toronto Castlefield location took place on November 20th 2020, and could not have come at a better time. They are aiming to not only satisfy the unique demands created by the pandemic, but also going above and beyond with LAUFT Flex office space rentals, climate-controlled storage units and truck rentals with new move-ins. The 260,000 sq. ft. flagship location is one of the largest of its kind in Toronto with over 2,000 storage units spread out over 6 floors, accessible by four commercial elevators and complimented with completely modernized technology using electronic security, keyless entry and web-based account management.

Along with Shawn and his business partner Prakash Gunasingham, the pair currently oversees 12 storage facilities across Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. While their original focus was in acquisition, they have broadened their scope to include bringing self-storage to the new generation with state of the art facilities.

To read the full interview, View the Toronto Star article here