When Alice Benishyaka fled war-torn Rwanda for the Ivory Coast in 1994, she couldn’t have imagined living in Buffalo 17 years later, selling handmade wares from her home country. That’s exactly what she’s doing, as part of the West Side Bazaar, a store bringing together merchants from several different immigrant and refugee communities on Buffalo’s West Side, and she couldn’t be happier.
“It’s a really good opportunity for me,” she said. “We don’t have language skills, but we came here with skills, and we like to show them.”
The small storefront bazaar opened in March of last year, on Grant Street near the corner of Lafayette Avenue. The idea had been kicked around for some time, said Liz Ettestad, manager of the bazaar.
“It took several years between when people actually started talking about it, and when it actually opened,” she said.
In an effort to gain more exposure, the bazaar’s marketing coordinator, Mary Joy Buscemi, contacted Buffalo State to see if there were any opportunities on campus for the merchants. Assistant director of the Student Life Office, Richard Harris, jumped at the opportunity to have the bazaar featured on campus, and the group participated in the Party in the Parking Lot last month. The event was a success on both ends, Harris said, and a plan is already in place to bring the bazaar back to campus on Nov. 16.
“I thought it would be excellent to have them on campus,” he said. “When she told me about who they were and what they did, I was really inspired.”
The bazaar serves to assist members of Buffalo’s growing refugee and immigrant community start their own businesses, Ettestad said. While having the vendors on-site is great, the goal is to have them open their own stores.
“We look at the bazaar as a business incubator,” she said.
Novi Paluch, a recent immigrant from Indonesia, hopes to follow the plan. She worked as a journalist in her home country, but looks at the bazaar as a new opportunity.
“My goal is (to) someday make my own business,” she said. “I hope I have a store by myself.”
The store features products and vendors from Peru, Sudan, Rwanda, Nepal, Liberia and Indonesia. Each vendor has a specific area in the store, where they show off their products, and eagerly explain their wares to customers. Much of what is sold at the bazaar is created by the vendors themselves, Benishyaka said.
“We sell handmade,” she said. “The people appreciate that. It takes time, hundreds of hours to make.”
One of the issues the bazaar faces is the perception that Grant Street is unsafe, especially among students at Buffalo State, Ettestad said.
“We think it’s unfair,” she said. “Grant Street might not be Elmwood, but it’s safe, especially during the day.”
While selling products and gaining valuable business experience are the main goals of the bazaar, there is something more, Benishyaka said.
“We want to show our gratitude to America with these products,” she said.
Michael Canfield can be reached by email at canfield.record@live.com.