Brooke Mahoney recently took her snowmobile out of her storage unit to get it ready for the winter.

Mahoney, 27, has used self-storage for the past several months, for her snow machine and other personal items.

“I’ve been in between places that I’ve been living, and I have stuff that I need to store when I can’t use it,” she said. “I was living by myself, and now I’ve got a roommate, and I don’t need all the things I have.”

Mahoney laughed at the notion of paying more to store her things than they’re worth, but said sometimes things have value beyond money.

“And my parents made me get all of my stuff out of their garage,” she said.

Mahoney is one of thousands of Montanans and millions of Americans who rent storage space. Their reasons are myriad, but they all boil down to the same thing: They need someplace to keep their stuff.

The self-storage industry took off in the 1960s, with accelerated growth up until the last couple of years. Today, nearly one in 10 American households rents a self-storage unit, and there are more than 2.2 billion square feet of self-storage space in the country, or 7.2 square feet for every man, woman and child in America.

It’s an industry where the small business owner is still king: According to the Self Storage Association, the five largest storage companies control just 10 percent of the market, and the vast majority of storage businesses are operated by people who own just the one facility.

“It’s a lot of entrepreneurs who decided to go into business,” said Tim Dietz, spokesman for the Self Storage Association in Alexandria, Va.

It can be a business for someone looking for something to do with a piece of land they own, or for someone who wants a relatively hands-off source of income while pursuing other business or personal interests.

For Tim Davis, 40, opening a self-storage center was a way to run a business while maintaining a mobile lifestyle. He runs American Storage from his laptop, and said he’s only at the property once or twice a week to check on lighting and timers and locks and things.

New customers can give him a credit card over the phone, he can give them an access code to the property, and the deal is done.

“For me, it’s a job I plan to have for a long time,” he said.

Davis’s business, on Highway 12 East about a half-mile from East Helena, is a good indication of the growth of the self-storage industry. In 16 months in business, Davis has filled 104 of his 176 units.

“My projection was it would take two years to fill it,” he said.

He sought land that was flat, had highway frontage, and where storage would be an approved land use without needing an additional permit.

As a land use, self-storage has a mixed reputation. Some see it as an undesireable neighbor, a business with people coming and going at all hours with little supervision or management, as well as sometimes a sheet-metal eyesore parked on what was once open space.

For others though, having storage units nearby can make it easier when downsizing to a smaller house or apartment, or for seasonal use such as storing snowmobiles or motorcycles.

Dietz said the industry is maturing across the country — after it took 25 years for a billion square feet to come online, the next billion square feet were developed in just eight years. Just 800 new facilities opened last year, compared to 4,000 new facilities in 2004.

“The industry had a remarkable growth rate, and there’s no way that pace could have kept up,” Dietz said. The easing of growth is related to a number of factors, he said, including many markets being fully developed as well as high costs for land and steel, making the projects tougher to pencil.

That’s true in Helena, where Davis and several others have opened storage centers in recent years.

Matt Venetz has owned Clarco Storage on Wylie Drive north of East Helena for the past eight years. He bought an existing business, he said, after his family sold a farm and was looking for somewhere to invest.

Venetz said his business is still growing, but at a slower pace than it once was.

“I honestly think it’s overbuilt right now,” he said.

Indeed, the Helena area appears to have more than its share of storage facilities, based on figures collected by the Self Storage Association. There are between 450 and 475 storage centers in the state, with 44 in Lewis and Clark County and another seven in Jefferson County. That’s fewer than there are in Flathead (65) or Missoula (60) counties, but more per capita than in more populous Gallatin (40) or Yellowstone (50) counties.

While the industry can be good for a hands-off owner, a certain amount of people skills are necessary as well. Many self-storage users are in the midst of a major life change that brings no small amount of stress with it: marriage, divorce, death of a relative, entering the military, changing jobs or moving across the country can all lead people to need a place for some of their stuff.

“I do get a lot of people that are pretty stressed about things,” said Dan Conrady, who opened Helena Valley Storage nearly a decade ago. “A good portion of folks that rent are under pressure. You can tell a lot of them are squirming a little bit, but when you tell them they’re stuff is taken care of, that you’ve got a space that’s dry and clean, they’re happy when they leave.”

Some developers view self-storage as a way to make money from vacant land while waiting for a better use to come along, but that wasn’t the case for Conrady.

“I looked at it as something that would give me my own personal time. I was tired of working two jobs for someone else to get all the cookies,” he said. Unlike some other operators, Conrady lives on his property, which has grown to include 205 units in six different buildings.

“My angle was, there was no storage in the valley at the time,” he said.

Would he ever sell?

“There’s a price on everything, but the lifestyle this affords me and the time with my children has been invaluable,” he said. “I’m really happy with how the business has prospered and matured.”

Reporter John Harrington:447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com