How is the Laptevs’ warehouse described in the story, Three Years?

Accroding to the narrator, the warehouse "was a rather large room, but owing to the perpetual darkness, the low ceiling, and the crowding of boxes, bundles, and scurrying people, it made as ill-favored an impression on a fresh person as the two below” (360). This dreary description enables the reader to understand why Laptev thinks of the warehouse as a jail, and why he wants nothing to do with it.