Stephen Christiansen spent a sunny Thursday afternoon getting furniture and boxes out of his mini storage unit to move to his new house in Sedro-Woolley.

Christiansen and his fiancée Kristen Korterud stored their household items for about seven months and lived with her parents in Anacortes to save money.

The couple’s 10-foot by 15-foot unit cost $90 a month — significantly less than rent.

“We packed away about $6,000 that went into the remodel we just bought,” Christiansen said.

He isn’t alone. Whether it’s household items during a move, Christmas decorations or a beloved car, more and more people are choosing to pack their stuff into storage units. And to meet the demand, more mini storage units are popping up everywhere.

RuthAnn and Gale O’Neil started American Heritage Mini Storage on Summit Park Road before the mini storage boom. The business they own with Jim Duffy and Jeff Hendricks was one of three other storage units on the island when it opened in October 1986.

Now, the number is creeping up to a dozen different storage places on Fidalgo Island. There are more than 1,100 units on the island with an average monthly cost of around $90. That means local residents are spending more than $1.2 million a year to store their stuff.

Owning a storage business was once looked at as a way to “bank” the land until its value increased. Not anymore. The once short-term use can now be a lucrative business.

“Years ago you put up mini storage until the land becomes more valuable and then tear it down,” Gale O’Neil said.

But now storage units in Anacortes and elsewhere are considered an attractive investment.

“Storage units used to be considered interim uses but they’re very profitable so they tend to be around for the long term,” said Ian Munce, city planning director. “People love to store things for long periods of time.”

And not just your average resident. Businesses are also taking advantage of the available space to keep inventory and supplies.

Sebo’s Hardware & Equipment, 1102 Commercial Ave., has had a storage unit on the island for three years. It allows the business to buy larger quantities and get a better price, said owner Dave Sem.

“But you need a place to keep it,” he said.

Right now it’s filled with Christmas and summer items.

“Basically we use it for seasonal things. We buy Christmas in May,” Sem said.

The Anacortes Chamber of Commerce also has a storage unit, which holds items for festivals and events it sponsors, like supplies for its annual Christmas tree lighting.

“For us, we don’t have anyplace to store things,” said Stephanie Hamilton, chamber program and events director.

Storage units can only be built in certain zones — and that can help make the land’s value increase as time passes.

Most zoning is based on the intensity of use, Munce said. Because people don’t visit storage units often, it is considered low intensity.

Storage units are permitted in industrial, light manufacturing and commercial districts, he said. Those are around Fidalgo Bay, around R Avenue between 22nd and 34th streets and along Commercial from 11th to 34th streets. The most common area for units is in the light manufacturing zone south of Highway 20.

A lot of units were already at March Point when the city annexed it in 1999.

Storage units are a conditional use in some other zones. For example, one storage unit in Skyline is in the commercial marine zone.

Joyce and James Anderson bought the Lighthouse Park RV Park and Mini Storage on Sands Way eight years ago — but the units have been there for nearly 30 years. The couple previously owned it with partners for several years.

“It wasn’t as popular then,” said Joyce Anderson.

The four parcels that make up the storage area were assessed at more than $1 million total this year, according to the Skagit County Assessor’s Office.

It has 147 units that range in size from 5-by-5-foot to 10-by-20 foot. Monthly rent is $26 to $110.

American Heritage Mini Storage is built on five acres. It was assessed at nearly $2.3 million — about $1.2 million for the land alone — in 2008 by the Skagit County Assessor’s Office. The owners bought the land in 1985 for $80,000.

There are 322 units on site ranging in size from 5-by-5-foot to 20-by-20-foot. There are also indoor and outdoor storage for RVs and boats. Monthly rent ranges from $30 to $195.

As land prices are increasing at more established storage units, new ones continue to pop up.

A new batch of 25 storage units is going up on Molly Lane, off Reservation Road. Anacortes-based Moore Solutions LLC is building the 1,500-square-foot units, which are selling for $163,500. Several have already sold.

Kirk Moore, with Moore Solutions, said people like the idea of not paying rent to store their belongings.

Units are also planned at the Washington Park Business and Storage Condos near Sands Way in the West End. The units, which are expected to be complete in February, are designed for RV and boat storage, office space, warehouse or distributor storage and inventory storage.

Even with all the new units popping up, owners are still seeing a steady amount of business.

Lighthouse Park caters to West End residents as well as members of the military and people who live in the islands.

“We’re close to the ferry,” Anderson said.

The smaller units are popular with boaters and with people who live in the nearby condos.

“Basically it’s year round,” Anderson said. “We stay fairly busy.”

She said some customers use the units when they are moving, but most simply need more space.

“They want to use it like an extra garage or closet,” Anderson said. “Some just don’t have room for it in their house and some just don’t want to have a garage sale. It’s easier to put it in the closet and forget it than do something with it.”

O’Neil, with American Heritage, said the economy’s swings don’t affect the storage business much.

“When times are good people buy and store, and when times are bad people shrink and store,” he said.

And some of those people have been storing stuff since the business opened.

He said one man has been storing his antique cars at American Heritage for 15 years and comes in almost every week to drive them.

They see a few military people, but most people storing here either live on the island or are moving here. 

O’Neil said people store everything from furniture and other household items to seasonal things like Christmas trees and summer toys like kayaks and scuba gear. A fair number of people use the units to store items while they travel in an RV for a few years.

Most just don’t have room in their home for the items.

“We’re a consumer economy. They buy more things than they can fit in their house,” he said.

Though the economy doesn’t greatly affect the storage business, house sales do. People generally have to sell their home in order to move.

O’Neil said summer is busier, which is also when people with kids try to move.

“Come May, June and summertime we fill up more,” he said.

In October there are more vacancies, but things usually pick up again in April.

When they are full, O’Neil said they refer people to other area storage units.

The one concern most people have about storing their stuff is security.

O’Neil said sometimes thieves rent storage units and even move items in. When nobody is looking they clip a few locks and put on their own lock. Then they can come back and steal items whenever they want.

“Until someone comes to check their unit they don’t know they’ve been robbed,” he said.

To help with security, the O’Neils don’t give out gate keys to the mini storage. People have to come during business hours and have to check in and out at the front desk.

“We do that for security reasons,” he said.

To prevent people from using their units for drugs, the business has a drug dog go through the center periodically. O’Neil said a prominent sign posted in the office about the Drug Inspection Team, a division of the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, has helped weed out people who want to use the units for illegal purposes.

Cameras, like the ones at Lighthouse Park, are also popular to help deter thieves.

With more mini storage centers, there is more competition. One thing that can hurt the business is overbuilding.

O’Neil said that isn’t a problem here yet but the market is close to saturation.

“There’s enough storage on the island to handle it,” he said.