Well, Spring has finally sprung here at The Storage in Self Storage located in Egg Harbor Township and in Ocean City, New Jersey!

Spring tends to bring a flurry of activity. Our storage customers shuttle in and out from their storage rental spaces, adjusting and preparing for the new season. We are blessed with a great reputation as the local, family-owned self storage solution for the Southern New Jersey area. 

Being the manager of a second-generation family-owned business, I thought it was cool to find out that March 29th is designated as Mom and Pop small business day. I wanted to find out more, so I did a little digging… 

National “Mom and Pop” Business Owner Day is recognized each year on March 29, celebrating the value that small, locally owned businesses add to their communities. As much as the day is about finding inspiration from the past, it’s also about creating excitement about the future.

Chances are, you already know of a few mom-and-pop businesses in your community. From the family-owned ice cream shop not too far away or the father-and-son hardware store downtown, these are the businesses that National Mom and Pop Business Owner Day honors. They’re not just great places to shop, they’re the backbone of the community.

Mom & Pop Drive the Economy

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, more than 28 million small businesses exist in the U.S. today, employing more than 56 million people. Together, these locally, independently owned retailers, restaurants, hotels and service providers create stronger and more resilient local economies. In fact, locally owned retailers return more than three times as much money per dollar of sales to their local economy than national chains. Similarly, locally owned restaurants return more than twice as much money per dollar of sales than their chain counterparts.

Mom & Pop Create and Preserve History

Beyond the economic benefits, locally owned businesses add value that can’t easily be measured in dollars and cents. They create a community that’s completely unique. No two cities, counties or states have the same network of independent businesses – and that makes all of our neighborhoods a little more interesting.

Particularly when it comes to generations-old family businesses, they also chronicle the community’s history in a way that modern big-box superstores can’t. They carry on local traditions and give back to local causes keeping the community vibrant.

Even if a small business hasn’t been around for generations, it’s still a valuable part of the local economy. Looking toward the future, start-up companies and entrepreneurs have the ideas and ambition to create important solutions to our communities’ challenges. Not to mention, they create the potential for even more local jobs and reinvestment.

To celebrate National Mom and Pop Business Day, visit a locally owned business – old or new – in your community. While you’re there, get to know the person working the front desk, learn about the business owners’ passion and build a new connection to your community. Then, spread the word among your friends, family and colleagues. That’s how the buy local movement spreads and mom-and-pop businesses grow stronger.

Well, now you know a little bit more about Mom and Pop businesses then you did before, courtesy of The Storage Inn. I really enjoy working for a family-owned business, and to this day I still receive the occasional call from our first generation owner, Rudy (now retired), just to see how things are going and how I am doing in general.  It’s great to be a part of The Storage Inn family.

Storage Inn Blog Post Happy New Year 2021

The New Year is a upon us here at The Storage Inn self storage in Egg Harbor Township New Jersey, and our storage rental customers seem to be happy moving on to a new year!

Yesterday, one of our self-storage tenants who happens to be a wine aficionado, was at his rental storage unit, returning his holiday decorations to his storage space. “Hey Bob!” I called out – “What are we drinking for New Year’s Eve this year?”. ”Why champagne, of course!” came his reply. We wished each other good luck in the new year, and went on our way, but this made me think –  what is it about champagne that people love?

Champagne is synonymous with celebration, and nothing says New Year’s quite like popping a bottle of bubbly. Throughout the year it might be seen as slightly snobbish, but on December 31 Champagne becomes a holiday revelers’ drink of choice in countries all over the world. It seems that simply letting those bubbles fly sets the tone for a festive celebration.

Here are some fun facts about Champagne you likely never knew…

There are about 49 million bubbles in a 7500ml bottle of Champagne – A standard-sized glass emits 30 bubbles every second.

The French consume 162.5 million bottles of Champagne every year, or about 52 percent of the entire world’s production of Champagne.

Champagne has 3 times more carbonation than beer – The pressure in a Champagne bottle is about 3 times the amount of pressure of a car tire.

When popped, a Champagne cork can reach a velocity of 24.8 miles per hour – The longest recorded cork flight was 177 feet and 9 inches.

Marilyn Monroe famously took a bath in Champagne. More than 350 bottles were needed to fill up the tub.

About 28,000 bottles of champagne are served at Wimbledon every year.

James Bond has been spotted drinking Champagne more than 35 times in his films. It’s the drink he reaches for more than any other… (and we thought he was a Martini man)

CPJGDF Goldfinger

If you’re drinking good Champagne, you’ll be able to see the “collerette” or the bubble trains traveling up the sides of the glass.

The first glass of Champagne has the most bubbles, meaning the first glass will also get you feeling drunk the fastest. Every glass thereafter poured from that bottle will be less potent than the one preceding it.

Winston Churchill was one of the biggest Champagne drinkers on record.  Between 1908 and 1965 he drank an estimated 42,000 bottles. A special one pint bottle was served to him every day at precisely 11 a.m.

In the 19th century, Champagne makers wore metal masks to protect their faces when handling Champagne bottles, which had a tendency to explode. Eventually, stronger glass bottles and metal clasp closures made the stuff more stable.

The most expensive bottle of Champagne was $2.07 million. It was designed by Alexander Amosu and Swarovski, handcrafted from 18-carat solid gold, with a deep-cut 19-carat white diamond at its center. It was mostly the bottle that caused the hefty price tag. Only a few were ever made, making it a rare and valuable collectors edition.

So, there you have it – some Champagne knowledge that you can take with you into the new year, courtesy of The Storage Inn. As for me, I’m considering enjoying some Champagne this New Year’s Eve, but first I need to find out – does Champagne pair well with hot wings?

Happy New Year!

It’s October here at The Storage Inn in Egg Harbor Township New Jersey, and our storage customers have been getting ready for Halloween. Just today I saw Jane, one of our long time storage renters, retrieving Halloween decorations and costumes from her extra space storage unit.

Halloween conjures up images of witches, ghosts, and skeletons –  but here in South Jersey, we have a particular affinity for devils. Most people know that our hockey team is called the Jersey Devils, but few know why.

They are named after the legend of the Jersey Devil, and although the hockey team plays in North Jersey, the legend of the Jersey Devil is deeply rooted in the southernmost portion of the state.

The legend of the Jersey Devil revolves around the Leeds family, whose descendants still live in South Jersey. And sightings of the Jersey, or “Leeds” devil, continue to be reported even in 2020!

To understand the legend of the Jersey Devil, you must first understand his birthplace. The remote region extending 1700 square miles across southeastern New Jersey is called the Pine Barrens. The Pine Barrens are are a dense pine forest broken up by the old stagecoach roads and Native American Indian Trails.

Leeds Point, NJ – On a stormy night in 1735, a Quaker woman gave birth to her thirteenth child during a thunderstorm. The impoverished woman, known as Mother Leeds, already had twelve children and had cursed the news of her being pregnant with her thirteenth. According to legend, on the night of the ill-fated birth, the room flickered with candlelight as the wind howled through the pines.

Some say the child was born deformed. Some say she cursed the child because of her dire straits. Other accounts say the child was born normal and took on odd characteristics later – characteristics such as an elongated body, winged shoulders, a large horse-like head, cloven feet and a thick tail. According to legend, the child was confined until it made its escape either out through the cellar door or up the chimney. Thus, the Jersey Devil was born.

Over the years, the Jersey Devil has been blamed for everything from crop failure to livestock death, damaging weather, and even reportedly causing local streams to boil. There have been hundreds of reports of sightings and encounters and even rewards offered for its capture. Every once in a while, a photograph turns up of this legendary monster.

If you’re ever in Southern New Jersey, you can take the “Tales of the Jersey Devil Walking Tour” through the Pine Barrens, if you dare.  Who knows – you may even have a Jersey Devil encounter of your own (have your camera ready!)

Happy Halloween from the Staff of The Storage Inn 

The holiday season is in full swing here at The Storage Inn in Egg Harbor Township New Jersey! Our storage rental customers are busy buying packing and shipping supplies, and retrieving the gifts they stowed away in their storage units.

Like many retail locations at this time of year, our storage rental office is filled with holiday songs wafting through the air. Hearing non-stop Christmas music on the radio made me wonder, where did these songs come from, who wrote them, and how long have they been around?

Here are a few fun facts about some of our holiday favorites… 

While we associate “Jingle Bells” with Christmas, the song was originally written to celebrate Thanksgiving.

The first Christmas song to mention Santa Claus was Benjamin Hanby’s “Up On The Housetop.” Written in 1864, Hanby was inspired by Clement Moore’s 1823 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas.” (The night before Christmas)

Thurl Ravenscroft, the singer responsible for classic song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”, also voiced Tony the Tiger, the mascot for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes.

“White Christmas” was written by Jewish songwriter Irving Berlin.

Irving Berlin hated Elvis Presley’s version of “White Christmas” so much that he tried to prevent radio stations from playing Presley’s cover.

The American military played “White Christmas” over Armed Forces Radio as a covert signal instructing soldiers in Vietnam to evacuate Saigon.

Bing Crosby’s version of “White Christmas” is the highest-selling single of all time.

In 1906, a violin solo of “O Holy Night” was the second piece of music to be broadcast on radio.

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “Joy to the World” are two of the oldest English language Christmas hymns, originating in the 1700s.

 “Let It Snow” is considered a Christmas song despite the fact that it never once mentions the holiday and was written by Jewish songwriters Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn.

 “Jingle Bells” was the first song performed in space.

Songwriter Gloria Shayne Baker wrote “Do You Hear What I Hear?” as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Jay Livingston and Ray Evans’ holiday classic “Silver Bells” was originally titled “Tinkle Bells.” They changed it when Livingston’s wife explained that “tinkle” was often a synonym for urination.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created by Robert L. May, a staff copywriter for the Montgomery Ward department store as part of a series of holiday-themed coloring books sold by the retail giant.

“We Wish You A Merry Christmas” is one of the oldest secular Christmas songs, originating in 16th century England.

Mel Tormé’s “The Christmas Song” (more commonly known as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”) was written during a summer heatwave in 1944.

Darlene Love sang her holiday hit “Christmas Baby Please Come Home” on David Letterman’s late-night show every year for 28 years.

Singer Brenda Lee recorded the original version of “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” when she was only 13 years old.

These are just a few of the hundreds and hundreds of holiday tunes that we hear each and every year. It would be impossible to chronicle each and every one here, but I will give you a clue as to my favorite – it involves barking dogs. Merry Christmas everyone!

Lederhosen, Beer and Oktoberfest

Fall is in full swing here at The Storage Inn of Egg Harbor Township New Jersey, and this self storage rental facility is jumping with customers shuttling in and out of their storage units, most of them pulling out their cold weather clothing and fall items such as Halloween decorations.

There’s always something interesting going on here, but yesterday I witnessed a sight that I never expected to see.

I recognized the truck that pulled into our storage unit rental office parking lot. It was one of our good customers, Jason, the wrestling coach of the local high school. What I didn’t expect was to see Jason hop out of his truck and stroll into the office, dressed head-to-toe in German Lederhosen!

“You’re a little early for Halloween, aren’t you?” I said as he walked through the door.

“Not Halloween – Oktoberfest!” he replied.

Jason and his wife were on their way to an Oktoberfest celebration. They even had special beer mugs that they had retrieved from their storage unit for the occasion. Jason grabbed a roll of packing tape and some bubble wrap, and then took off to Oktoberfest.

This got me thinking not only about Oktoberfest, but more importantly, about beer!  Where did beer come from, and why do so many people around the world love it so much?

I decided to do some research and here is what I found…

Drink Like an Egyptian

Beer has a long history, one that’s longer than we’ll ever be able to trace. Residue of the first known beer was found in a jar at an excavation site in modern day Iran, presumably sitting there since someone took his or her last sip around 3400 B.C. But chances are, the first beer had been “cracked” long before that.

So while an exact date or time for the first chug, or keg stand, or even hiccup, is not known, what is known is that beer, like bread, developed best in farm-based societies where there was an enough grain and time for fermentation. One thing we definitely know is that ancient man loved beer as much as—if not more—than we do. The Babylonians had about 20 recipes for beer, Egyptian Pharaohs were buried with vats of the stuff, even the workers who built the pyramids were essentially paid in beer.

One of the first written recipes for beer actually comes from a 3800 year-old poem that celebrates the Sumerian goddess of beer and also conveniently outlines steps for brewing.

However it began, beer rapidly took hold as one of civilization’s favorite, and safest ways to drink. Historically speaking, water wasn’t always safe to drink, and alcoholic drinks like beer, which were sanitized by the application of heat, were actually safer to consume. The appearance of beer also changed as brewing methods evolved. Babylonians drank their beer with a straw because it was thicker and full of grain! 

Germany “Hops” On Board

For centuries, beer cultivation in Europe relied on a mixture of herbs and spices called gruit. Only around the turn of the first millennium A.D. were hops regularly finding their way to beer, with Germany exporting hops for brewing around the 13th century.

By the 16th Century,Germany’s “Reinheitsgebot” beer purity law had essentially removed everything but water, hops, and barley from acceptable brewing ingredients (yeast, a slight oversight, was added back to the list a few centuries later).

Over the centuries, beer’s popularity has remained constant. The Prohibition era introduced our palates to a lighter flavor profile that lingers to this day, especially among mass-marketed beers. On the other hand, craft beer has made serious gains in the market, yielding a historically unprecedented diversity of styles. One company and even brewed a beer using the ancient poem’s recipe, and Dogfish Head’s Ancient Ales line includes beers like the “Ta Henket – a version of Egyptian bread beer. 

So, now that you are armed with some serious beer history knowledge, courtesy of The Storage Inn, you can pull on your Lederhosen, grab your beer stein, and head for your local Oktoberfest celebration. Have fun, but take it easy on the Bratwurst – Auf Wiedersehen!