Massive New Storage Facilities Rising in Egg Harbor Township, NJ

Egg Harbor Township's Surprising New Boom

Egg Harbor Township is the latest municipality in the Garden State that is experiencing a rapid expansion in a multi-billion-dollar per year industry.

That statement might have you think that something huge is happening at the aviation park by Atlantic City International Airport, but no. This is much more universal.

Not Just Dollar Stores Anymore

Of course, the running joke online over the past few years has been how EHT is the dollar store capital of Atlantic County. I mean, that's not too far from the truth with Dollar Tree and Dollar General stores on corner after corner. The same was being said about mattress stores for a while, but that seems to have calmed down a bit. But this is neither of those.

This involves stuff.

And the stuff people have. Apparently, lots of people have lots of stuff. They have so much stuff that they don't have any place to keep it all, so they're renting out places to put their extra stuff.

Yes, we're referring to self-storage facilities.

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The "Rise" of Self-storage

It was back in May when a giant steel structure seemed to appear overnight right along the Black Horse Pike, not too far from Storybook Land.

That quickly turned into this, which appears to be an expansion of the neighboring U-Haul and self-storage business.

But now, it looks like this isn't the only business that's getting into "big" storage.

Over behind the old Cardiff Circle, we noticed a few giant concrete towers going up the other day where there used to be an old gas station.

And they're going up very quickly.

That work is taking place in front of the Extra Space Storage facility that's been there for a few years.

And we can only assume that they're getting into the big self-storage business now, too.

As for why all of these monstrosities are suddenly being built, it turns out it's pretty interesting.

Big Storage is Big Business

Storeganise.com wrote an article on this topic and they pointed out a few key factors.

First, as rent and mortgages continue to skyrocket, people are looking to downsize. When they do, they don't have as much room for their belongings, so they turn to self-storage spots.

There's also an ongoing trend where people are decluttering their living spaces, but they aren't willing to throw a bunch of stuff in the trash. So, again, they're storing their stuff.

Even more fascinating is the big picture of self-storage — in 2024, it was a $44.3 billion industry. And it's expected to top $50 billion before 2030.

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What It Means for South Jersey

So as things change and evolve here in South Jersey, it's easy to anticipate that many more self-storage businesses will be opening around here... and they aren't going to be those little one-story places where it's just a row of garage doors. Keep an eye out for multi-story storage units dotting the landscape soon.

And you thought having a Dollar General on every corner was bad.

Pictures: Egg Harbor Township, Then and Now