Cooking up change
What started in a former video store is now one of Buffalo’s most dynamic engines of equity, entrepreneurship, and renewal.
Buffalo’s West Side Bazaar, run by the Westminster Economic Development Initiative, has helped launch over 1,600 immigrant- and refugee-owned businesses through mentorship, microloans, and affordable vendor space. Entrepreneurs like Zelalem Gemmeda are now building wealth, creating jobs, and reshaping the city’s economy.
BUFFALO, N.Y.—Zelalem Gemmeda will tell you that freedom smells like the aroma of berbere spices and the warmth of fresh injera pulled straight from the griddle.
She fled conflict in Ethiopia, spent years in Yemen running a restaurant where she wasn’t allowed to speak directly to customers, and eventually made her way to Buffalo as a refugee with the hope of building a new life. It wasn’t clear at first whether she’d ever own a business again. But inside the West Side Bazaar, a crowded food hall on the city’s West Side, she found something she’d been missing for years—independence.
“I got my freedom here,” she told Bon Appétit in 2022, beaming behind a table filled with her signature wot stews and spiced lentils. With help from the Westminster Economic Development Initiative, or WEDI, Zelalem launched Abyssinia Ethiopian Cuisine. She built a loyal customer base, saved for her future, and is now planning to open a full-service restaurant of her own.
She’s one of dozens of refugee and immigrant entrepreneurs who’ve turned a modest business incubator into one of the most vibrant cultural centers in the region. “We are like a family,” she said of her fellow vendors. “We help each other a lot.”
The West Side Bazaar is more than a food court. It’s a proof point that economic empowerment and integration go hand in hand. It’s also part of a broader story that shows how cities can build resilience not just through policy, but through trust.
Building Something from Scratch
WEDI started small. In 2006, a group of volunteers from Westminster Presbyterian Church began tutoring refugee youth on Buffalo’s West Side, helping them learn English and succeed in school. However, it quickly became clear that their parents needed support as well. Many of them came from entrepreneurial backgrounds but had no access to capital or credit in their new home.
In 2011, WEDI opened the original West Side Bazaar in a former Blockbuster video store on Grant Street. The space was just over 3,000 square feet. There were no frills, only twelve vendor stalls and 47 seats for diners. But what it lacked in size, it made up for in spirit.
Vendors came from Myanmar, Sudan, Iraq, Korea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They served handmade dumplings, flatbreads, stews, and sweets. Others offered textiles, jewelry, and home goods, giving new meaning to the idea of shopping local. Despite its small footprint, the Bazaar drew more than 90,000 visitors a year.
“The space really became a cultural hub for the city of Buffalo,” recalled WEDI Executive Director Carolynn Welch. “People came in droves.”
That early success was proof of concept. But demand quickly outgrew the space. By 2019, more than 100 aspiring entrepreneurs were on a waitlist for vendor slots.
A New Home for a Bigger Vision
After years of planning, fundraising, and persistence, WEDI opened a new and expanded West Side Bazaar in late 2023. Housed in a renovated 16,000-square-foot warehouse on Niagara Street, the new facility is five times larger than the original.
The two-story space features a bustling food hall, dozens of vendor stalls, a full commercial kitchen, a coffee and bubble tea bar, and seating for over 200 customers. Upstairs, there’s classroom space for financial literacy and entrepreneurship training, office space for WEDI staff and partners, and a stage for events and performances.
“Providing this new, five times larger space where more entrepreneurs can launch and build economic security for their families is the fulfillment of WEDI’s mission to eliminate barriers to systemic economic equity to create a Western New York where all may thrive,” said Welch. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the Bazaar “a testament to the wide variety of foods, cultures, and products that make Buffalo so special.”
Today, the Bazaar incubates 24 businesses at a time and draws visitors from across the region. At full capacity, it’s expected to attract more than 250,000 people annually. An economic study projected it will contribute more than $34 million in local direct and indirect spending over the next five years and create 25 to 30 new jobs.
The Power of One Good Bet
Behind each of the Bazaar’s businesses is a story.
There’s Htay Naing, who came to the U.S. from Myanmar after years of working as a dishwasher in Malaysia. He spent three years on the Bazaar’s waitlist before opening Nine & Night Thai Cuisine. His food quickly became a neighborhood favorite. With help from WEDI, Htay saved money, brought his fiancée to Buffalo, and bought a home. He now has a daughter and a thriving brick-and-mortar small business.
There’s Nathalie Zola Malu, originally from Congo, who worked as a pharmacist in France before moving to Buffalo. She launched Malkia & Co., blending African and American flavors into comfort food that connects across cultures. And there’s Garang Doar, who, along with his father, opened Nile River Restaurant, serving a blend of Egyptian, Sudanese, and East African dishes.
These entrepreneurs found space and support at WEDI through mentorship, microloans, and hands-on training in various areas, including inventory management, food safety, digital marketing, and bookkeeping. Since 2009, WEDI has issued more than $2.2 million in microloans, helping over 1,600 business owners start or grow enterprises across Western New York, creating real jobs that contribute to the tax base. And it’s demonstrating what’s possible when cities invest in people, not just projects.
What Buffalo Got Right
Buffalo’s model isn’t flashy, but it’s practical. It centers the idea that economic development doesn’t need to be top-down or capital-intensive. Sometimes it just needs to be accessible.
Most of the Bazaar’s vendors come from backgrounds that would make traditional financing impossible. Some have no credit history or collateral. Others speak limited English. But with the right support, they’ve built something powerful.
The businesses they launch are often the first of their kind in Buffalo. Their menus introduce new ingredients, their storefronts reflect lived experience, and their stories ripple out into the community. And they’re staying. Many graduates of the Bazaar now operate standalone restaurants, boutiques, and cafes throughout the city. Their kids attend local schools, their taxes fund local services, and their presence brings energy and investment to once-vacant corridors.
City leaders have noticed. “It’s wonderful to see the West Side Bazaar continue to grow and flourish here in the city of Buffalo,” said former Mayor Byron Brown. “The variety of foods and wares offered at the Bazaar complements the cultures we have in our city.”
That’s the power of civic trust, and a time when immigration is often framed as a threat, Buffalo has embraced it as an opportunity to be nurtured and developed. The city’s immigrant entrepreneurs aren’t just participating in the local economy—they’re helping shape its future.
The West Side Bazaar demonstrates that inclusion can be a central component of civic strategy. And when done right, it builds wealth, stability, and pride, not just for those who are new to a place, but for those who’ve called it home for generations.
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