Mansfield's Highland March Making a Niche for Professionalism

Niche business is the mark of the 21st century. The advent of the Internet has made for a much more concentrated area of business and has made it easier for small businesses to thrive. But, let's say you're just starting out, and your apartment is less than likely to give that professional feel.

Highland-March, located in the Cabot Business Park, is a company for just such a dilemma. Highland-March rents out business spaces, such as offices, conference rooms, etc. for any businessperson who cannot afford a new space or just doesn't need an entire office floor. 

Vice president of operations Kimberly Morin said that they could provide any small business or local corporate arm the means to a professional look and feel.

"It depends on the specific business," she said. "For an individual, say the attorney who typically works out of his basement, this gives that attorney a professional address, a professional atmosphere, a support staff behind him so that it let's he or she put out a much more professional image."

Morin, who has been working with the company for 15 years now, said that they also help provide support to those who lease from them. They work answering the phone, sorting mail and provide office services such as copiers and supplies without having to lease and stock a whole office. 

"Furniture, photocopiers, phone systems all cost thousands of dollars," she said. "This way, if it's a small company, say under six people, we provide all that for them."

Morin said that they also lease to larger companies as local arms. When CarMax wanted to move to New England, they leased a large office building, but they still needed to have a presence while that building was being refurbished and stocked. So they leased a space from Highland-March in order to get the hiring and preliminary work done so they could hit the ground running. Panera Bread actually started their very first office in their Braintree location.

"Their very first office, when they only had one bakery," she said. 

Morin said it is very satisfying work from her end. She gets to help other people just starting out get a leg up in their field and provide a service to those innovators who might otherwise be left out in the cold. A niche business for niche businesses, as it were.

"I love solving problems," she said. "Someone comes to you and says I need to get 16 people space and I need it to happen Monday, my plans for a building elsewhere fell through, it's pretty cool when you can get 16 people in an office; furniture, phones, everything, and it's all ready to go... We in turn end up becoming the face of all our clients."