LYNN — Todd Flannery has new services to offer with the opening of his latest business at 111 Locust Street Flannery’s Handymen, his moving company, has been serving the community for more than 20 years, and Flannery has now added his brand-new storage facility, Boston Street Self Storage, to his portfolio.
The property where the facility is located had already been owned by Flannery, as it was used to house his moving company’s vehicles. The previous building was brought down and the 12-year process of constructing a new, state-of-the-art facility began.
With the help of his brother, Rory Flannery, and Flannery’s Handymen Office Manager Shannon Coffey, Todd Flannery aimed to distinguish Boston Street Self Storage from its competition by avoiding negative aspects that he said most storage facilities suffer from.
“We go to a lot of storage facilities, they’re disgusting,” Todd Flannery said. “There’s rats, there’s homeless people sleeping in the units, the elevators don’t work… no customer service whatsoever.”
Instead, he said, his facility has features such as consistent customer service, clean restrooms, climate-controlled interiors, 24-hour access, 50 surveillance cameras, and solar energy.
“You want to send your mom to this place,” Todd Flannery said. “It’s safe.”
One of the main inspirations for opening the business came when clients of Flannery’s Handymen expressed dissatisfaction with other facilities.
“We do 100 moves a month and half of them want to go to storage,” Todd Flannery explained. “We would recommend places and there would be terrible service, and then that reflected on us.”
Now, Flannery’s Handymen can refer its customers to its own storage business.
Since its launch in late summer, more than 100 clients have utilized the 507-unit building. Todd Flannery said that approximately 70% of them come from referrals by Flannery’s Handymen, while the remaining 30% learn about the business from advertising and word of mouth. The facility offers units of six different sizes, the largest of which is 10 by 30 feet.
Todd Flannery hopes his name and reputation will help Boston Street Self Storage earn the community’s long-term trust.
“Our name stands behind this storage,” Todd Flannery said.
“You can trust what you get here,” Rory Flannery added.
Item Reporter James Bartlett contributed to this report.
