Business Spotlight: Storage Neighbor

Neil Sapra is one of the owners of The Storage Neighbor in Lilburn. Sapra, who branched out from apartment properties in 1994, acquired the Lawrenceville Highway property in December of 2007. Neil and his partners realized that self storage was an important necessity for customers across the demographic scale and had a fairly strong track record through both good and bad economic times. I recently sat down with Sapra to talk about his business.

Patch: What is the best aspect of owning The Storage Neighbor?

Neil: Well there are two important aspects. One is flexibility and the second is impact. In terms of flexibility, we're able to alter our strategy. There's time flexibilty, there's financial flexibility but there is also flexibility from a business standpoint that allows us to change directions very quickly. In terms of impact we get a 100 percent return in what we put into our company. These are the two most rewarding things.

Patch: What is the most challenging aspect of owning a storage property?

Neil: The challenging aspect is that we need to maximize our output based on very limited resources. That includes a financial perspective, a human capital perspective but also from what we can invest in terms of software, training, etc. We try to get more out of less and that is the challenge but that's also what's exciting about owning your own business.

Patch: What makes The Storage Neighbor unique?

Neil: I think that in an industry where there is not a lot of brand recognition, what we try to focus on at The Storage Neighbor is making sure that the property manager that is running our Lilburn location is really ingrained within the community and is trying to look after our tenants' needs. We like our manager to have a very personal relationship with them because we realize that a lot of them are going through stressful times. She listens to their needs and she tries to be that rock. It's kind of strange but we have a lot of tenants that like to communicate their challenges and problems to her and we try to listen and help the best we can. We also realize that the community that surrounds our location in Lilburn is what keeps us in business. They are our lifeline. Most of tenants live within three miles. So we try to give back through sponsorships, whether that be school athletic programs or community festivals. We are also involved with Toys For Tots, pet adoptions and community yard sales.

Patch: What makes the Lilburn community special?

Neil: Lilburn is definitely a diverse community and it's one that has a lot of history. The city of Lilburn has always been a strong municipality and we respect the fact that even through tough economic times that the people here will survive.

Located at 4400 Lawrenceville Hwy., The Storage Neighbor is open from 5 a.m. until 10 p.m. every day of the week. 24 hour access to the property is given upon request. The property contains 483 units ranging from 5'x5' to 10'x30'.Parking spaces for vehicles are also available. For more information check out their website at storageneighbor.com/lilburn. To ask questions or leave comments send an e-mail to elie@storageneighbor.com.