Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - The Braymiller Market is signaling trouble in seeking a city grant of more than $500,000.
Common Council President Darius Pridgen is reacting to the request and says he wants answers from the operators of downtown's much-heralded and only supermarket.
Pridgen says he first heard of this on Tuesday and says, "I have a lot of questions that I'll be asking the Committee on Tuesday, because some of the monies that are being requested were designated for small businesses." He notes some of the money did not get out of City Hall, because of the way the money was set up to go out was cumbersome. He believes that's why Braymiller was not able to get some of the same monies that other businesses were able to get during COVID.
Can a downtown supermarket thrive?
Pridgen believes a supermarket that has possibly a different business model or store model can. "Buffalo still is not a an urban area or metropolis with thousands of people living downtown. So you have a very limited amount of people, the people who live west of Main Street, have a major grocery store, the people on the East Side where it was mostly targeted to ... they have their preferences of where to go," notes Pridgen. He says it is not a major grocery store, rather providing more convenience items. "I've never seen someone coming out of there with a cart full of groceries, and they're going to be able to make it for the week for family," observes Pridgen.
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Pridgen will be asking why the store hasn't thrived on Tuesday and he's asking Braymiller for a written report on why the monies that are being requested to be transferred to Braymiller did not go out the door. "I think process is very important when you're talking about transparency in government," notes Pridgen.
Braymiller Market opened in September 2021.