Rider Mini Storage: new location on North F Ave.

Rider Mini Storage opened a new location on North F Avenue in Washington, complete with climate controlled, drive-up and 14- by 50-foot RV storage units.

“The need kept growing, and as we filled up, we built another unit,” co-owner Rita Stogdill said. “When we got another call, and we had filled up, we built another unit.”

While they lost some business during the pandemic, Stogdill said customers were coming back.

“We did have a loss of several clients when things got real tight,” she said. “But then we had a surge again with people moving home to live with mom and dad because they couldn’t afford rent, and they don’t want to store everything in one house … Business has been really good, it’s picked up. We’re just pleased with the way it’s working out right now.”

Stogdill said she and her husband and co-owner, Randy Stogdill, were inspired to start storage company as a side business to their bike shop, Rider’s Sales.

“We watched a storage building go up across the street from our bike shop,” she said. “We said ‘That guy has got to be making some money,’ and that’s what started the whole thing. You have guaranteed income for every unit that you rent, so that’s how we got started.”

That was in 2000. The new building is the company’s third in the area. Stogdill said the new location would hold them over for a while, but they had little hesitation about expanding further if needed, save for some concerns about the price of steel, which all the buildings are made of.

“It all depends on whether we have to start saying ‘No, we don’t have any more units,’” she said. “We do have room for another unit there on the side. If the need is there, we’ll build it.”