“Professionals Serving Professionals.”

History of the Company

The first File Room Facility was developed and opened in San Antonio, Texas, by the Company’s Founder and Chairman, Richard B. Hatch in September of 1987. The concept was that there was a huge need for someone to not only store but manage active and semi-active records for hospitals, banks, law firms and other professionals.

In less than one year, File Room’s first operation was becoming an overwhelming success. Its success was largely contributed to three factors: (1) a tremendous need in the market place for these services (2) the development of a software product that would bar-code, scan and track client records and (3) the development of an effective, professional sales team to market the products and services.

In the spring of 1989, File Room undertook its first expansion and development project in Houston, Texas. This project undertaken by Mr. Hatch and his partner, Mr. Dennis J. Finn. This expansion was used to test and perfect the development process which would then be replicated in other cities around the State. With Sales support provided by Mrs. Betty Finn, The Finns and Mr. Hatch pre sold the Houston Operation to break even prior to opening the doors.

In late summer of 1989, File Room broadened its service capabilities by acquiring a magnetic media storage business in San Antonio. That magnetic media vault was quickly incorporated into the File Room service philosophies and served most of the financial institutions and corporate headquarters operations in the San Antonio area. It grew to become the largest Magnetic Media Vault in South Texas.

In February, 1990, File Room expanded its capabilities once again and took over the management of a San Antonio competitor known as Data Records Storage of San Antonio. The absentee ownership of this company approached File Room in the hopes that our new technology and extremely successful sales capabilities would dramatically improve the operation.

In the spring of 1990, File Room began its second development project in Austin, Texas. The Austin File Room opened in June 1990. The Austin File Room grew quickly into a very successful operation with two facilities that manage well in excess of 200,000 boxes.

In 1991, File Room began a series of joint ventures with out of State companies. It was File Room’s responsibility to accomplish the feasibility study, site selection, pre marketing and management training. File Room was compensated for the consulting work in the form of cash and a minority ownership position. File Room also conducted a number of feasibility studies for other operators and Mr. Hatch was featured in a number of speaking engagements with organizations such as The National Moving and Storage Association, The National Self Storage Institute, The Self Service Storage Association and The Texas Self Storage Association. By January, 1993, File Room had sold all of its minority interests in the joint venture operations, and made the management decision to turn in another direction for growth.

In June 1993, File Pro L.C. was formed. In August, 1993, File Pro acquired an 88,000 Square Foot building in the Medical Center area of San Antonio and in October, the facility was open and working. In December 1993, the facility reached break-even.

1994 was the year of the acquisitions. Preliminary work to purchase a San Antonio competitor, Archives and Data Storage Inc. was underway in late 1993 and closed in January of 1994. This purchase doubled the size of the San Antonio operation. In late summer 1994, two other competitors were identified for acquisition. Data Records Storage, the firm that File Pro had managed for years, and Scobey Moving and Storage’s records storage division. File Pro purchased both operations in September and began a consolidation effort. These acquisitions, once again, doubled the size of File Pro.

In January of 1995, File Pro once again began development operations and opened a new Facility in Corpus Christi, Texas. This operation was developed with a combination effort of the acquisition of a small competitor and a focused sales campaign. The facility grew to over 60,000 boxes in less than one year of operation.

By July, 1997, Mr. Hatch had sold File Pro, San Antonio, The Austin File Room and File Pro, Corpus Christi. The proceeds of these sales allowed The Houston File Room to undertake an aggressive expansion and development plan for the growing Houston Metropolitan Area. The late part of 1998 and the beginning of 1999 was dedicated to relocating the existing Houston File Room operations into a new location. The move operation required a careful transfer of over 100 tractor-trailer loads of records while maintaining an ongoing retrieval and delivery operation. The move was transparent to most customers and not one single box of records went unaccounted for. Additionally, during this time, The File Room added the foundation of an infrastructure to support a 100% growth in business. This plan called for a major new sales undertaking. File Room has dedicated its resources to the development in this manner because of the dramatic growth in the market and the ever increasing need to have vital records retrieved and delivered in a timely manner.

Today, The Houston File Room Inc. stores over 175,000,000 files and proudly services the records management needs of over 500 Houston clients. Nearly 12,000 files are retrieved and delivered each month. Additionally, Houston File Room personnel perform other records management functions on behalf of the client such as purges, packing, transporting, on-site relocation, and records management consulting. Clients for whom a consistently high level of service is paramount to their success have very few choices. We believe The Houston File Room is the very best choice. We are Houston Professionals serving Houston Professionals.