Brothers turned their college move-in/move-out experience into a business

The setting: the Weymouth building of Lancaster Court Apartments.

The event: move-in day at St. Joseph's University.

The mood: tired and sweaty from carrying so much stuff up so many steps as temperatures climbed, too, into the 90s.

The exception to this overall miserable scene late last month: Isabela Garcia.

A 19-year-old sophomore from Panama, Garcia was the picture of Zen, chilling in her air-conditioned room while two guys lugged in seven boxes, two duffel bags, and two large trash bags full of her belongings, as well as a plastic cabinet, a hamper, a comforter, and a mini-fridge.

Doing Garcia's heavy lifting were brothers Brett and Sean Barry, two-thirds of Help U Store It, a Philadelphia-based startup founded with older brother David in 2011 to move college students in and out and store their possessions over the summers.

Help U Store It is a finalist in Philadelphia Media Network's inaugural Stellar StartUps competition, which culminates Sept. 29 at the new Pennovation Center in West Philadelphia with a cocktails-and-hors d'oeuvres reception, a panel discussion featuring local entrepreneurs, and the announcement of winners in six categories.

Help U Store It (www.helpustoreit.com) is one of three finalists in the "college students" category. David Barry, 27, had just graduated from St. Joseph's University with a double major in finance and economics in 2011 when Brett proposed the idea of a moving-and-storage company for college students. At the time, Brett, now 24, was studying industrial engineering at Clemson University in South Carolina.

Involved in student government there and on the board overseeing the move-in/move-out process, Brett became aware of a similar service.

"I fell in love with the idea as soon as I heard it," he recalled.

So did David, who said nothing like it existed in the Philadelphia market. Fresh off his St. Joe's graduation, he filed the paperwork to incorporate and worked on branding and rudimentary marketing materials to spread the word about Help U Store It, which didn't even have a website when it started soliciting business at St. Joe's and Villanova University.

Its first pickup was in May 2012, the same year Sean, now 22, was starting his freshman year at Elon University in North Carolina as an accounting major.

As a junior, Sean oversaw the company's first out-of-state expansion in 2015, which now includes Duke University and the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill. Sean will start an accounting job in Raleigh this month and will continue leading Help U Store It's work there.

Washington, D.C., is being added to the Help U Store It service area this school year. David, a management consultant, moved there in August.

Brett lives in Newtown, Bucks County, where the Barrys grew up, and has an engineering job with a local firm. He oversees the Philadelphia operation.

Serving nine schools in two states, Help U Store It had 2015 revenue of $65,000, with profits depending on location, David said. (The higher net is in Philadelphia, where the Barrys use a storage facility owned by their father, Thomas.) See a full list of the schools it serves at http://www.helpustoreit.com/schools/.

The company hires temporary employees to distribute promotional materials, but the moves - usually conducted over about five weeks a year - are primarily handled by the Barrys.

With such a short season, the company will continue to serve as a source of supplemental rather than primary income for the brothers - at least for the next few years as organic growth is pursued, said David, who noted that the competition now consists of four or five regional and national firms.

Help U Store It's future growth focus will be schools with a high percentage of out-of-state students. "That's the ideal school we look for," Brett said from behind the wheel of a 16-foot Penske rental truck.

And Garcia, from Panama City, is the ideal customer.

"I'm an international student. It's hard for me to rent a car and take it to storage," she said as Brett and Sean delivered her bounty using hand carts and sheer muscle. "It's a relief."

The cost: Prices depend on how many things are moved and stored, but start at $229 and have averaged $350, David said.

Experience has prompted one significant business tweak: "Saying no to furniture," Brett said, citing "how painful it is" to move.

David mentioned one other lesson learned:

"Students are coming more prepared, which is another word for stuff. It seems like everybody has a TV . . . a microwave. You're seeing more plastic bins."

dmastrull@phillynews.com

215-854-2466@dmastrull