Regina storage company now a big business

Regina company listed on Toronto stock exchange WATCH: A Regina company called Storage Vault started out small but has turned into a big time business. Wayne Mantyka has more.

A storage company that began in Regina has been listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. It’s called Storage Vault and is best known for its portable containers. The company has grown to be the largest of its kind in Canada.

Al Simpson was on vacation in Phoenix, Ariz. a few years ago when he passed a compound filled with storage containers. On a whim, he pulled in to ask about the business.

“I zipped in there, talked to the owner, came back to Canada, saw there wasn’t anything like that, got that started,” he said.

He called it PUPS, Portable Units, Portable Storage.

“Then my partner and I decided, well let’s try grow this PUPS business and we’re going to need a voracious amount of capital so we thought we’d see if we could go public,” he said.

After a few years on the Toronto venture exchange, the company has been listed on the main board as Storage Vault.

“Now it’s on the TSX big board trading at a valuation about $2.5 billion with I think we own and operate about 230 locations across the country.”

Simpson now has his sights set on small sport stadiums. He’s offering to invest in a new ball diamond at Regina’s former rail yard and a soccer field at Saskatoon’s Prairieland Park.

Simpson considers the creation of new sport entertainment venues as his way of giving back to a province that helped him grow as an entrepreneur.