Buffalo’s Downtown Bazaar to Shutdown; What Comes Next

Less than two years after it opened as a secondary location for a restaurant incubator space, the Westminster Economic Development Initiative (WEDI) confirmed Monday it was closing the Downtown Bazaar, essentially effective immediately. 

The company will not be renewing its lease for 617 Main Street when it expires at the end of the year, making December 31 its official last day. 

The location, in the heart of the Theatre District, was borne out of necessity when the original location of the Bazaar on Grant Street near Buffalo State University was badly damaged in a fire. 

“Looking ahead, we believe that relocating these businesses to their own spaces will provide them with even greater opportunities for growth and sustainability,” says Carolynn Welch, WEDI’s executive director, in a statement released Monday. “We thank Nick Sinatra and his team for providing this opportunity to rent this space after the devastating fire on Grant Street we and these businesses experienced in September 2022. The Downtown Bazaar created a vibrant location in the Theatre District for the past two years. Although we are sad to leave this space, we are excited about the new possibilities for our restaurant owners. Stay tuned; more to come on what’s next.” 

The current occupants of the Downtown Bazaar, including Pinoy Boi, Nile River Restaurant, Pattaya Street Food, and Abyssinia Ethiopian Cuisine, will need to be relocated. 

The closure will not affect, nor does it have anything to do with, the West Side Bazaar on Niagara Street, another business incubator for international restaurateurs and other small business owners. Welch suggests that the vendors at the Downtown Bazaar will be moved into their own spaces, which will “provide them with even greater opportunities for growth and sustainability.” 

This could be seen as the second round of turbulence for WEDI, which began in 2006 as a program to provide financial and tangible support to all kinds of small businesses, including those run by young entrepreneurs and immigrants to Western New York. WEDI says it has given out $1.4 million in microloans to 113 businesses since 2009, and, since 2012, clients have created nearly 200 jobs across the region. The organization says all but one of the 14 small businesses that started out in the West Side Bazaar were able to stay open during the pandemic. 

But there have been some questions about the ethical and business practices of WEDI leadership this year, as former Buffalo News food critic turned independent writer Andrew Galarneau published a handful of articles featuring interviews with WEDI of the West Side Bazaar clients who say the organization didn’t always follow through on promises. He reported that some incubator restaurant owners did not have access to important kitchen and prep equipment that had been promised by WEDI, including a dumpster, and had to provide their own assistance during security issues. Others said they did not have information provided in their native language, resulting in fines or lack of payment due to infractions they didn’t know they were committing. 

WEDI responded to Galarneau, calling his coverage “very disappointing. We have appreciated Galarneau’s support of the Bazaars and WEDI over the years and believe we have a shared respect. The issues Galarneau brings up in his piece, many of which our board was fully aware of, have been exaggerated and are overwhelmingly one-sided. WEDI’s board recognizes there is room to improve the organization’s processes and operations. Our goal is to examine the facts and own our shortfalls and triumphs so we can make WEDI the best possible organization it can be.”