What Happens When No One Shows Up?

How Spartan Storage Found a Better Way.

By StoreEase

Randy Trapanick has seen both sides of the coin.

As Director of Operations at Spartan, he's responsible for keeping dozens of self-storage properties running smoothly- staffed, accessible, and converting customers. A few years ago, that meant wrestling with the same challenge every operator knows: finding, training, and retaining enough people to keep the lights on. Then came a trip that changed the way he thought about the problem.

The Moment That Said It All

Randy was out visiting properties- a routine tour that included a few sites managed by a third-party REIT. When he and his team pulled up to the first location, the door was locked. Nobody was inside. A sign directed them to call a number, which connected to a generic call center with no visibility into that store. They couldn't tour a unit. They couldn't get onto the property.

Same story at the second location. And the third. "One was at the bank, one manager had called out, one I think was a staffing issue," Randy recalls. "We pulled on the door and there's nobody." Later that same day, they visited one of their own EaseOS-powered locations in Sandy, Oregon, an intentionally virtual site. They walked in at 5:30 PM.

Within four seconds, Janet appeared on screen to greet them.

"I don't have to worry about somebody going to a bank. I don't have to worry about somebody calling out. My store was open for customers to walk into."

‍44 Properties. One Standard.

Spartan spent six months vetting remote solutions before choosing the EaseOS platform as their core technology to embed within their operations. Today they operate across 44 properties- with three more coming online- using a combination of the products within the EaseOS Virtual Console Suite.

The results have been concrete:

Labor efficiency and Expanded Hours.

Spartan now operates stores with one manager instead of two, running six days a week, 14–15 hours a day. The EaseOS Virtual Console acts as a live, highly skilled, full-time front-office presence, freeing on-site managers to focus on the property rather than the counter.

Higher conversion. The minimum conversion rate across Spartan's EaseOs powered properties?

80%. "That's our lowest," Randy notes.

Improved collections. Extended coverage hours have allowed Spartan's team to reach customers

later in the evening, improving collections by roughly one percent at EaseOS locations meaningful lift at scale.

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Add-on revenue. Merchandise sales- locks, mattress covers- have grown at EaseOS properties, driven by a strategy of pairing virtual agents with well-placed displays.

Rethinking What "Staffed" Means

One of the less obvious benefits Randy describes is what the EaseOS platform does for his managers, not just his customers.

At first, his on-site team was skeptical. Someone who doesn't know my store. Someone who isn't here. But that changed fast. Spartan’s virtual managers build real relationships with the on-site team- they learn the properties, recognize regulars, and handle the incoming flow so managers can focus on higher-value work.

Now, Randy gets requests from managers asking to have the technology added to their location.

"I'm all by myself all the time," one told him. "This would actually give me somebody in my store every once in a while."

‍A New Acquisition Playbook

Perhaps most significantly, EaseOS has shifted how Spartan evaluates new properties. Markets that once seemed too remote, too hard to staff, or too risky to enter independently are now viable.

"Instead of going, well, do we have to maybe use a REIT — now it's like, no. We can manage it.

We can put the EaseOS platform in there from day one." That played out literally during a recent acquisition. The incoming manager had a delayed start date. Rather than delay the opening, Spartan launched the property on time — with virtual managers running operations from day one.

The Partnership Piece

Randy is direct about what ultimately drove the decision, beyond the product itself: the people.

"The one thing that really sold us to test it and then move forward has been the support we've gotten and the dedication we've gotten with the StoreEase team."

He also singles out StoreEase's approach to product development- listening to operator feedback and building it into the roadmap- as a key differentiator for a company, like Spartan, that has ambitious growth plans.

"You're constantly innovating the platform... knowing that changes are coming in your pipeline so that we can keep growing our business."

StoreEase partners with self-storage operators to deliver the EaseOS platform that consists of a Virtual Console Suite, AI-native software, and CRM tools that help properties run better- with fewer people and greater consistency.

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