The space issue seems to be a non-issue until you scale up to multiple bulk products. Unless you are talking about people living in either a shelter or the housing units that are basically a bed and everything else is communal.
We have what I like to call a "general store" in our basement that takes up two shelves full of several bulk products. (perhaps 10-15 different products, some small, some not) We're talking about a space that might be 2.5 ft on a side, 1 ft deep. Hardly a ton of space that will require additional capital "tied up in owning this before you need it."
In Tokyo? Sure. In the US? Not so much.
Congrats on your basement, do you think apartment dwellers have basements?