The much-anticipated new home of the West Side Bazaar, opening Oct. 31, will be five times bigger, with twice the number of food options and more than double the seating.
There will be retail shops on the ground level, and offices on the second floor in the renovated, two-story 1920 building at 1432 Niagara St. But the food offerings from around the world – the eight restaurants will feature Vietnamese, Burmese, Italian, Egyptian, African, Japanese, Malaysian and Korean meals – will still be the Bazaar’s main attraction.
“People who come in now to this new space when it’s finally open will be blown away by the food options at their fingertips,” Carolynn Welch, executive director of Westminster Economic Development Initiative, said during a media sneak peak Wednesday.
The popular international food court, whose businesses are largely owned by Buffalo’s immigrant and refugee community, has been the subject of features in a number of publications, including Bon Appetit magazine, the Washington Post and USA Today.
The skylit 16,000-square-foot location replaces the Bazaar’s previous home at 25 Grant St., which closed 13 months ago due to an accidental fire that started in a countertop fryer, the same month construction of the new space began.
“It feels unbelievable to be here,” Welch said during a sneak peak for reporters of the new location. “It’s been a really tough couple of years, between Covid and the fire.”
The upstairs space and a small stage on the first floor will turn the site into a cultural hub for performances and family rentals, Welch said.
“We are going to make the upstairs event space affordable, so people who traditionally can’t find an accessible space are going to be able to have those birthday parties and weddings and baby showers,” she said.
Upstairs will house service offices, including a counseling service and a driving school, all part of WEDI’s role as a small-business…
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