Downtown Bazaar

Downtown Bazaar

617 Main Street, Buffalo (next to the historic Market Arcade)

Hours: Tue., Wed., & Thurs. 8 am - 8 pm

Fri. & Sat. 11 am - 8 pm

Breakfast tacos from Oralia Traditional Mexican Food and coffee, tea, and bubble tea at Pattaya Street Food at 8 am. Restaurants Abyssinia Ethiopian Cuisine, Nile River Restaurant, Pinoy Boi, and shops Asian Boutique and Flavia's open at 11 am.

WEDI’s Downtown Bazaar is a small business incubator where aspiring entrepreneurs test retail concepts and learn the fundamentals of running a business. It is also a community gathering space where people of all races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds share a love of delicious food and unique products.

The Bazaar has food kiosks featuring Ethiopian, South Sudanese, Mexican, Burmese and Filipino cuisines plus a bar that serves beer and wine; and retail kiosks selling items from Africa, and Sri Lanka. It is located on Main Street in the heart of Buffalo's theater district.

Your Downtown Bazaar Businesses

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Abyssinia Ethiopian Cuisine

Owner: Zelalem Gemmeda

Journey: Ethiopia to Yemen to Buffalo (Arr. 2005)

Established in 2012 in WEDI's West Side Bazaar

Zelalem Gemmeda was born and raised in Ethiopia but relocated to a refugee camp in Yemen due to political unrest. During her 12 years in Yemen, she learned Arabic and worked at a restaurant. Eventually, she was able to purchase and own a restaurant, a rare achievement for a woman in Yemen but she and her husband had to leave for the U.S. She opened Abyssinia Ethiopian Cuisine where she proudly serves authentic Ethiopian cuisine using spices sourced from Ethiopia. Her dishes are meant to be eaten with your hands and the food is particularly popular with vegans. Zelalem said she likes owning her business because she feels connected and involved with the community. She hopes to graduate from the West Side Bazaar and serve dishes on traditional clay plates from her birth country. You’ll often find her husband G. and their daughter Feben working with her at the restaurant.

“That’s why I have a restaurant-to make people happy (with what I am serving)”

Flavia's Business

Owner: Flavia Mutoni

Established in 2021 in WEDI's West Side Bazaar

Flavia’s goal is to bring quality African, Middle Eastern, and Asian clothing to her family and friends here in the US. Flavia personally selects the clothing, purses, bags, and decorative items she imports to ensure they are of the best quality. She also makes and sells braids and decorative hair pieces. Flavia speaks 6 different languages which allow her to communicate more efficiently with the growing immigrant and refugee community in the Greater Buffalo Area.

Lulu's Pub

Owner: Joseph Joy

Established in 2023 at WEDI's Downtown Bazaar

An important part of Joe's upbringing revolved around assisting his family's businesses, farm, and restaurants. WEDI's mission to cultivate community-rooted businesses to actualize the rights of under-resourced people speaks to one of his greatest passions-businesses that are locally sourced and have a positive impact on the community. Lulu's Pub donates 5% of it's profits to WEDI.

Hours: 11 am - 8:30 pm (kitchens close at 8 pm)

Nile River Restaurant

Owners: Garang Doar and Akec Aguer

Journey: South Sudan to North Sudan to Egypt to Buffalo

Established in August 2021 in WEDI's West Side Bazaar

Akec’s career in the hospitality industry began in Karton, North Sudan as he escaped unrest from the Sudanese Civil War. For nine years he worked at the Friendship Palace Hotel where he learned how to cook Italian and Lebanese food. He went on to become a private chef for a Canadian oil company where he mastered cooking North American-style cuisine. Encouraged by a friend, he moved to Egypt to start the immigration process to America. On April 18, 2003, Akec and his wife arrived in Buffalo with their three children and worked with Catholic Charities to settle in Buffalo’s west side shortly thereafter. He applied to work for a security company, then a car rental at the airport, before he became an Uber driver while receiving his associate's degree in hospitalityfrom ECC in 2018. After being on the West Side Bazaar waiting list for five years, Nile River Restaurant finally opened in August 2021.

Oralia

Owner: Jess Melisz

Established in 2023 at WEDI's Downtown Bazaar

Owner/Chef Jessica Melisz is a Buffalo native with 24 years in the hospitality industry. Chef Jess was fortunate to spend a number of years living in central Texas where her appreciation of Mexican food only grew. When the decision was made to move back to Buffalo it became clear that she wanted to bring the flavors of northern Mexico, El Paso, Corpus Christi, Austin, and New Mexico back with her. Finally, bringing her dream to fruition and honoring her main influence by naming her business after her, Oralia has come to Buffalo!

Pattaya Street Food

Owner: Elizabeth Sher

Journey: Burma/Myanmar to Thailand to Buffalo (Arr. 2011)

Established in 2018 in WEDI's West Side Bazaar

Originally from the Karen state in Burma/Myanmar, Elizabeth lived in a refugee camp in Thailand to avoid geopolitical fighting in 1997. While there, she worked in a Thai restaurant often early in the morning before she went to school and after school. In 2011, she immigrated to Buffalo, alone and not knowing English. “I just opened a dictionary and read and talked to people,” she explained of her English acquisition. She worked as a hotel cleaner and eventually she brought her family to the U.S.

"My favorite thing about owning a business is that it allows me to be creative and have the ability to experiment with recipes and to produce new dishes. I enjoy being my own boss and making the business decisions."

Pinoy Boi

Owner: Lloyd Ligao

Journey: Philippines to Buffalo (Arr. 1997)

Lloyd H. Ligao, Founder and Head Chef of Pinoy Boi, was born and raised in Ologapo City in the Philippines, and moved to the United States in 1997.

Established in 2023 in WEDI's Downtown Bazaar

Lloyd started working in the restaurant industry in Buffalo in 2006, starting as a dishwasher and eventually working his way up to head chef at a Buffalo Italian restaurant.

Delicious food has always been the way to bring his family and friends together. Establishing Pinoy Boi has been a dream that came to live in 2021.

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The Asian Boutique

Owner: Romala Ranjendran

Journey: Sri Lanka to Buffalo (Arr. 2006)

Established in 2015 in WEDI's West Side Bazaar

Romala grew up in a small village in Northern Sri Lanka but was displaced to Negombo, in Western Sri Lanka due to civil war. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, she moved her family to the US, eventually settling in Buffalo. She is excited for West Side Bazaar’s expansion and hopes to bring Sri Lankan cuisine to Western New York in the future.

“My passion is to bring pieces of my culture to Western New York through cultural clothing, jewelry, art work, and home décor.”

We Cater

Please be advised that the Downtown Bazaar catering program is paused until February 1, 2024. Two of its business, Oralia and Pinoy Boi, independently offer catering. Please consider ordering from them directly:

Oralia

Pinoy Boi

Support Our "Graduates"

Through our incubation process, business owners learn how to capitalize on their strengths and identify which business model works best for them, be it storefront or e-commerce.

You can support graduated businesses that incubated at the West Side Bazaar at these sites:

007 Chinese Food -84 Lake Street , Hamburg, NY 14075
Atinga Project -736 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222
Becki's Bakery -HomeBased/Mobile, Oil City, PA
Family Thai -836 Tonawanda Street, Buffalo, NY 14207
Gajmer Jewelers -3054 West Henrietta Road, Rochester NY 14623
Global Villages -242 Grant Street, Buffalo, NY 14213
Jolie's Dumplings -Online from Buffalo, NY
Kiosko Latino -142 French Road, Buffalo, NY 14227
Mandalay Restaurant -6621 Niagara Falls Blvd., Niagara Falls, NY 14304
Macramé by Nadeen -20 Longmeadow Road, Buffalo, NY 14226
Nine & Night Thai Cuisine -Campbell Student Union at Buffalo State University
Radah Baked Goods -Online from Buffalo, NY
Rangoon Income Tax -271 Ontario Street, Buffalo, NY 14207
Sasmita Batik - shop online here
Providence Farm Collective -5701 Burton Rd, Orchard Park, NY 14127
Zandra Beauty -Online shop with a partnership with Target

Downtown Bazaar Press

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