Island 'Spa of Shipping' business center debuts

By Larry Austin

Island Dispatch Editor

As part of an ongoing expansion, the Island Ship Center has completed addition of a 24-7 business center for the Island.

Seema and Fahim Mojawalla of the Island Ship Center have announced an office membership is now available that provides secure 24-hour access to ship, mail and work. In short, it's a business office address for someone who doesn't have a business office.

"It's a 24-hour private mail and business center" located at 1879 Whitehaven Road, Fahim Mojawalla said.

The center is part of an industry trend, Mojawalla said, noting that all across the country shippers have evolved from mail and parcel centers to mail and business centers.

"This is the first of its kind, 24-hour private business center that's not a hotel brand ... in Western New York," said Mojawalla as he took a group on a recent tour of the facility. The center is located adjacent to the business at 1879 Whitehaven Road, the Island Ship Center's address that anyone can use as their own by joining the business center.

Mojawalla explained that Murphy's Law states when your kid has a project due the next day, that's when you will run out of ink. Enter the Island Ship Center's business center, where even at 3 a.m., mom or dad can go to use a new printer and copier machine that scans and prints high-resolution color copies.

The center includes mailboxes, Wi-Fi, a copier, shredder, fax machine and even office furniture, allowing for quick meetings. The center offers secure access and has non-stop security camera coverage inside and outside the building. A 20-space parking lot expansion is in the works.

The office has three-zone heating and air conditioning, so the "Spa of Shipping" Business Center is always climate controlled. "This is the feng shui of shipping," Mojawalla said.

He called the business center concept "the wave of the future." Though the internet allows the millennial generation to hang a digital shingle from their web address, Mojawalla explained everyone sometimes needs a more secure physical business address apart from a private home.

"This allows you a private address. It prevents ID theft, package theft," Mojawalla said. And it's a time saver, as customers will receive a text telling them that a package has arrived.

"Tell me that's not epic," Mojawalla said.

Mojawalla has a flock of snowbirds seeking a special mail forwarding service for when they fly the Grand Island nest to spend winter in the south.

"This will be their permanent address and, whenever they go away, no one has to know. We forward their mail. It's secure, it's safe, and no one has to be spying on them," he said.

The business center was the idea of Mojawalla's wife, Seema, who developed it after a trip to a business expo in Las Vegas, where approximately 500 of the 7,500 members in the Association of Mail & Business Centers go to learn about new trends in the industry. Mojawalla, the AMBC director of social media, is a presenter at this year's expo, which runs from Aug. 10-15, and will do a Facebook Live presentation from 9-11 a.m. Pacific Time Friday, Aug. 12, and Sunday, Aug. 14.

"I'm teaching social media and the millennial mindset," he said or Social Media 101 and 102.

Mojawalla said he wants to be the hub for his customers, and the business center will make that happen.

"This is a game-changer in the industry," Mojawalla said.