West Side Bazaar Finds New Home for Ethnic Eatery

BY Andy Young City of Buffalo

UPDATED 6:48 PM ET Oct. 11, 2019 PUBLISHED 5:46 PM ET Oct. 11, 2019 PUBLISHED 5:46 PM EDT Oct. 11, 2019

It's shortly after noon on a Friday and the West Side Bazaar on Buffalo's Grant Street is packed with people looking for lunch. Now, the ethnic eatery has found a new space to call home.

The West Side Bazaar houses small businesses owned by immigrants and refugees
The nonprofit that runs the bazaar is purchasing a building on Niagara St. in Buffalo
Construction should start early next year and be complete in spring 2021

"We've gotten to the point where if you come here for lunch, you're really not going to get a seat," said Carolynn Welch, executive director of Westminster Economic Development Initiative (WEDI), which runs the bazaar.

The West Side Bazaar started eight years ago as a business incubator for Buffalo's immigrant and refugee population.

That's around the same time Htay Niang came to the city after leaving his native Burma, now known as Myanmar in Southeast Asia.

"I do spicy food, and noodles, and rice," Niang said.

He opened his restaurant, Nine and Night Bistro specializing in Thai cuisine, in the bazaar three years ago with hopes of expanding to something greater.

"Just one day I want to make a big restaurant so that's why I started a small business in the West Side Bazaar," Niang said.

The bazaar is a melting pot, currently home to nine restaurants and six other shops selling clothes, crafts, and jewelry from cultures the world over.

"The people that we're working with otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to start a business," Welch said.

As the shops are restaurants have grown, so has the Bazaar's popularity, necessitating the need for a new location.

"It's going to open up a whole new world I think having a location that is more accessible, that is larger," Welch said.

The @WestSideBazaar has outgrown its confines on Grant Street, so it’s moving to a space 5x larger less than a mile away. They hope to add more immigrant and refugee vendors starting their own businesses with food, clothing, crafts and jewelry. @SPECNewsBuffalo pic.twitter.com/Nx8f8Evzmy
— Andy Young (@AndyYoungTV) October 11, 2019

WEDI is buying a space five times the size less than a mile away on Niagara Street. They plan to add more restaurants and shops, space for customers, and community groups.

The project should cost about $3.5 million, and coincides with work on Niagara Street to giving new life to the area with sidewalks and bike lanes. According to Welch, four out of five visitors to the bazaar come from outside the neighborhood. Once an architect is selected, the goal is to start construction next spring, with the new West Side Bazaar on Niagara Street open for business by spring 2021.

"I think we're going to drive a lot of that foot traffic," Welch said. "I think people are going to come over and they're going to want to go to the bazaar and they're going to notice other opportunities they have."

Opportunities people like Htay Niang plan to keep making the most of.

"We make a new bazaar. We've had a plan a long time ago and finally we got it and I'm just happy," he said.