For many people, part of the American Dream involves starting a business and watching it grow. American history is filled with business success stories that began with a single storefront. But those storefronts are almost always made of brick and mortar. That may be changing. More and more we’re seeing businesses not made from traditional construction materials, but from repurposed storage containers just like the ones at A.B. Richards.
A.B. Richards Makes Storage Easy
At A.B. Richards, we know that storage containers make life easier in a variety of different ways. They can help you during a residential renovation or allow you to keep construction equipment at a job site. We can help restaurants store seasonal furniture and much more. We’re constantly amazed by the uses people come up with for our storage containers. We are a rental company, so we can’t allow you to convert A.B. Richards containers into a small business. However, we do want to tell you about the interesting stores that have been made from portable storage containers.
A Store Grows in Brooklyn
Necessity caused Todd Jones of Brooklyn to build his donut shop in a shipping container. He told the NY Daily News, that he had been kicked out of his previous location due to development. He used the container from a stalled construction site in downtown Brooklyn to reboot.
“There are always good things that come out of bad things,” he said in 2011. “I’ve been doing doughnuts now for 35 years. That’s all I ever did. Probably if you cut me, glaze would come out of my skin.” His business, Cuzins Duzins, is still growing strong.
Protecting a Business and Protecting Others with Storage Containers
An even more dramatic setback was responsible for the relocation of Sari Perlstein’s fashion boutique in Belmar, New Jersey. Originally housed in a building, Exit 98 Boutique sustained damage from Superstorm Sandy. According to NJ.Com, she rebuilt her store three blocks away, using two shipping containers. She installed sheetrock and lighting to give the business the look she wanted. “Once you’re inside you don’t even know that you’re in a shipping container,” she said. Having a store repurposed from containers prevents further problems with natural disasters, she can simply move the store.
“If there were a horrific storm we can get a crane and move that thing off. We can take it away. That is a plus,” she said. “Because if it was a building again, you’d just wave it goodbye.”
A unique storage container store in Canada isn’t about making profits. It’s about helping people. A group on Salt Spring Island is using the container to rescue food that’s about to expire and distribute it to low-income members of the community before it spoils.
“Some of them, especially if they are on income-assistance, might only have 50 dollars to spend for the rest of the month,” Simone Cazabon, the food security coordinator for Salt Spring Island Community Services, said. “So if they don’t have to spend money on food, especially the ones with kids, it’s such a big relief.”
A.B. Richards Can Help Your Business Stay Organized
Businesses have been created, saved and grown because of portable storage containers and they’ve helped the community too. While we can’t let you repurpose storage containers. A.B. Richards can help your business keep organized. We can give you extra space for excess inventory or a place to keep your business records. And we’ll deliver your portable storage unit to wherever you want it. Contact us today!