Get to know Life Storage
Buffalo, NY – March 1st
For the second of our Corporate Partner spotlights, we’re delighted to have spoken with our friends at Life Storage, partners of ours since fall 2020. Regional VP, Jim Kwitchoff, and VP Marketing, Chris Laczi, talked about the partnership and what else their business does in the community and why they find it important to give back.
What does your business do and what areas do you serve?
Life Storage serves home owners, renters and business owners with month-to-month rental of storage units. We are commonly used to make space around the home or business, or as a staging area for belongings while homes or businesses are in transition for moving or renovation. Our locations also offer valuable resources for moving, such as moving truck rental and moving boxes and supplies. Life Storage has over 900 locations in 33 states, with 14 locations here in Buffalo. Our operations are based on Main St. in Williamsville, with over 250 local employees.
How long have you been in business?
We were founded in Buffalo in 1982 by Kenneth Myszka, Charles Lannon, and the late Bob Attea. Originally the company was founded as a financial planning company investing primarily in real estate. known as Sovran Acquisition, the firm began investing in self-storage facilities and grew rapidly. The company went public in 1995 as Sovran Self Storage, with Ken, Chuck and Bob as executive officers. The company operated its storage facilities as Uncle Bob’s Self Storage, until purchasing a company known as LifeStorage in 2016 and changing its name to Life Storage.
Why does your business feel that community partnerships are important?
For about 15 years, our company has sponsored hundreds of organizations in the cities where we operate, particularly those that support youth athletics. Even though we are a large corporation with hundreds of stores, we operate them as if they are each local businesses because our customers tend to live close to each store. Youth athletics sponsorship is a great way for us to support local young families, and keep them aware of our company should they ever need our services.
What made you decide to partner with Victory Sports?
We were fascinated by the imaginative ways that Victory engages kids to keep them active and involved in athletics, especially those without the financial means to participate. Victory offers opportunities that otherwise would not exist. We also admire the tie-in to reading that Victory incorporates through sports-related books for the children, teaching the importance of having a healthy mind and body.
What would you say to an individual or company considering supporting Victory Sports?
We have seen many youth athletics organizations come and go, and those that are the most successful tend to be innovative and keep interest by engaging our kids in ever-changing ways. Victory is certainly one of those organizations that will clearly serve our kids well for years to come.
Do you have any other community projects or initiatives you want to tell us about?
In the past few years, the company has been putting a great deal of effort into reforming its environmental impact and adopting sustainable energy practices. Our storage facilities tend to be very large buildings that need to be lighted, heated and cooled. Where possible, our facilities are being adapted with solar panels on the roof to generate electricity, and we have been adopting more efficient heating and cooling systems, LED lighting, and new building materials that increase insulation and reflect sunlight. Our goal is to reduce our energy consumption by 10% overall in the next 5 years. You can learn more about our Sustainability Efforts on our website.
Any new products/services/offers you want to tell us about, or anything else you want to say to readers??
We have recently expanded our moving supply offering, improving the quality of our boxes, protective covers and offering new tools and products that will help people preparing for a move. These products are now of the same quality of those used by professional movers, designed to protect your belongings better during moving and storage. We are a great first-stop for WNY’ers getting ready to move, and when you mention Victory Sports, you’ll get 20% off your purchase.
Huge thanks to Jim, Chris and the team at Life Storage for supporting our work here at Victory Sports to help kids from disadvantaged and low income communities to play sports and be physically active. We can’t do it without corporate and individual supporters and we love showcasing these local businesses to you all. Looking forward to more mutually beneficial marketing, volunteering and community initiatives with Life Storage and our other partners.
If your business is interested in partnering with Victory Sports, we have lots of options available and would love to discuss them with you! E-mail Edmond, our Development & Marketing Coordinator to learn more or visit our Partnerships page.