By Nancy Brumback, Contributing Writer
Westborough – De-cluttering to sell the house? Remodeling? Adult child temporarily back home? New home not yet ready?
When your problem is what to do with your stuff, Smartbox USA now offers a solution??”portable storage units delivered where you need them for as long as you want.
Mark's Moving & Storage, based in Westborough, a full moving and storage business for 33 years, has added the Smartbox portable storage option to its range of services.
“When the opportunity became available to purchase the Smartbox franchise for this area, we thought it would be a perfect fit with our business,” said Mark Silverman, president and CEO of Mark's and now “chairman of the box” for the local Smartbox business.
What is a Smartbox?
It is a large wooden storage container, 8 feet high and 5 feet wide by 8 feet deep, that locks securely; the customer keeps the key. The company estimates it will hold one-and-a-half rooms” worth of furniture and other items. A heavy-duty red-and-white vinyl cover makes it weatherproof, so it can sit outside the customer's house as long as necessary.
Silverman's company will deliver as many Smartboxes as a customer needs. The customer packs and unpacks the containers. If the customer needs to store the household goods, Smartbox will pick them up and take them to Mark's warehouse. If a customer is moving, Smartbox will take the containers to the new home and leave them there for the customer to unpack. When the Smartboxes are no longer needed, the company picks them up.
One popular use for Smartboxes, Silverman said, is to store personal belongings when a house is being de-cluttered before putting it on the market. Real estate agents sometimes suggest that option to their customers.
“You can load it yourself at your own pace, which helps with the sorting and purging process,” he noted.
Smartboxes are also useful during a major remodeling project to get furniture and household objects out of the way and keep them safe from dust and damage.
College students can use Smartboxes to store their belongings over the summer.
For do-it-yourself moves, Smartboxes allow customers to pack and unpack at their own pace, without the pressure of picking up and returning a rental truck. And the boxes can be packed by room? keeping everything together.
“Smartboxes are geared to people who want to control the physical organization of their goods,” Silverman said. And people don's have to worry about loading or driving a truck.
Smartboxes are also used by businesses for temporary storage, including document storage or excess or seasonal inventory, with the containers either staying at the business or being stored at Mark's warehouse.
“Smartboxes can satisfy many customer needs. And if a customer wants additional services such as assistance loading and unloading furniture, Mark's Moving & Storage is there to fill that gap,” Silverman said. “We'se been helping people move since 1979.”
Geographically, the Westborough Smartbox focuses on the greater Metrowest area, but it can handle moves anywhere in the country through the parent company's franchise network.
In most towns in the Metrowest area, the cost to use a Smartbox for on-site storage is $99 for delivery, $99 for pickup, and $99 a month to rent the box, he said.
Interested customers can call the national Smartbox number, 877-627-8269, or check the website, www.smartboxusa.com, for a quote on their project. Smartbox shares facilities with Mark's at 111 Milk St. in Westborough.
