To attract luxury customers, Katalan, 43, expanded his premium services and launched new ones, including Photo Perfect Packing, in which every object is photographed and inventoried before being loaded onto a truck. Movers then arrange everything in the new home to correspond as closely as possible to the previous layout.
The service has been particularly popular with reality TV shows, including America's Next Top Model, which contracts with NorthStar to handle the temporary packing in homes borrowed for filming. NorthStar's premium services now account for about half of its jobs, up from 20% just four months ago.
"It's a lot more expensive," says Katalan. "But the people willing to pay for it are not as affected by the economy."
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