Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The West Side Bazaar at 25 Grant Street in Buffalo suffered a devastating fire on Tuesday that caused an estimated $300,000 worth of damage. According to Buffalo fire investigators, the fire was deemed accidental, involving a countertop fryer in the kitchen area.
"It was shocking," said Erin Kelly, Director of External Relations at WEDI Buffalo. "One of the business owners, Akec from Nile River Restaurant, called me at 7:30 in the morning, we don't generally talk on the phone. When I saw that it was him, I picked up and he just said, 'Erin, everything's not OK at the West Side Bazaar. I said, 'Akec, what do you mean?' And he said, 'It's on fire, Erin. There are fire trucks everywhere.' So I threw my WEDI t-shirt on and went over."
After everyone was in shock of the incident that first day, the subsequent days that followed were driven by adrenaline, according to Kelly, as they find ways to get the bazaar back up and going.
The West Side Bazaar is a small business incubator for local entrepreneurs who wouldn't be helped by traditional banking institutions for their business. The goal of the West Side Bazaar and WEDI Buffalo is to get the entrepreneurs into position to be helped by traditional banking to open up their own individual business.
"We give loans from $5,000-$20,000, and we have relationship managers and they help everyone do things from profit and loss statement to licensing. We also have businesses we do lending to all over the region," Kelly explained. "The incubator itself has 11 businesses in it right now, and that's who suffered the fire on Tuesday."
While the building the West Side Bazaar was located at was being leased at the time, the new future home of West Side Bazaar is still in the works on Niagara Street. In another year, the Bazaar will be able to move into their new, much larger location at the conclusion of an $11.5 million capital project.
So for the time being, there is the need to find somewhere to put all the entrepreneurs.
"We're looking for space where we can set them back up again, and we need space where they can do lunch and dinner service, which is, obviously, our busy times where they made the bulk of their money, and Saturdays," Kelly said. "A lot of community kitchens need their kitchens on Saturdays, or can't do evening service, they close. We need shuttered restaurants, restaurants that have space for us, or restaurants who want to do a pop up with one of our chefs. We're looking at all kinds of possibilities to get everybody working again.
"This is really how they feed their families, this is how they have economic security."
In the meantime, people have flocked to show their support for the West Side Bazaar and the work that's been done over the years to help those looking to take the next step.
As of Friday, the West Side Bazaar had received about 300 individual donations, with most donation totals being $5, $10, $25 and $50. They've even had a couple of donations of $250 and $500.
"The outpouring has just been stunning," Kelly said. "I'd say 99% of them are first-time donors."
While a healthy number of the donations received by the West Side Bazaar have come from folks in Western New York, they have even received some support from across the nation.
"I can tell you that they've come from everywhere, from California to Maine to Toronto. [Thursday], we got $5 from Houston, which, to me, says this place matters," Kelly said. "It matters to people that it exists, figuratively and literally. People want to know that Buffalo has a place like the West Side Bazaar for refugees and immigrants, and other people who want to start businesses, and they want to come here and they want to eat and they want to shop for the things that we have that are unique and hard to find elsewhere."
Kelly and the others with West Side Bazaar and WEDI Buffalo are very grateful for the donations received to this point, because they know that any contribution goes a long way.
"We've had lots of offers - we have a bar that's making us a t-shirt that they're going to sell, we have people who might do a donation on coffee at a coffee roastery. We're open to any kind of thing that will help our business owners get back on their feet," Kelly said. "Those are some of the creative thinking ideas, and donations, of course, are so welcome."
For anyone looking to make a donation to West Side Bazaar and help the cause, you are encouraged to visit WEDIBuffalo.org and click the donate button there.