• Manhattan Mini Storage

  800-786-7243

  Let us guess: Your closets are full, and your building’s basement is mildewy and just generally scary, but that coat has to go somewhere safe for the summer. Manhattan Mini Storage—in this case, biggest is best—offers clean, climate-controlled spaces suitable for Fendi or fine art. The company’s highly navigable Website (manhattanministorage.com) allows users to reserve a space by special features like air-conditioning, 24-hour access, walk-in closet, and alarm system. All the Manhattan buildings keep a manager on-site in case of problems and offer security video monitoring, off-street parking, and your own lock and key. (There are sixteen Manhattan locations, too—no small factor, as you’ll discover the first time you have to haul something heavy back home.) Five-by-five-foot rooms start at $124 per month, and the larger units are big enough for a full apartment’s worth of furniture. For an extra fee, a concierge will visit and arrange the logistics, so you don’t have to lift a finger except to point out your boyfriend’s sports-memorabilia collection, which, obviously, needs to go.

From the 2006 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine