By Samantha Murphy and Desiree Wiley
BengalNews Reporters
With Christmas right around the corner, small businesses on the West Side are gearing up for their busiest time of year. Businesses such as West Side Stories, Guercio & Sons Inc., Krudmart and the West Side Bazaar are a just few of the small businesses hoping to make big money this year.
According to American Research Group Inc. consumers anticipate spending $646 on gifts this holiday. However, 37 percent of those shoppers will be doing so online. Still, local businesses remain very optimistic and have been hard at work attracting customers.
With the birth of the company in 2002, Krudmart is enjoying its success. Its location at 212 Grant St., has been up and running for two years. Krudmart’s owner and employees are dedicated to offering creative and revolutionary street wear items at affordable prices.
Brands such as 10 Deep, ArtistiCreation, Acapulco Gold, Black Scale and many more can be found 15 percent to 50 percent off during the holiday season. Employees plan to see a full store throughout the month.
“Business picks up during the holiday season, especially black Friday,” said Richard Rouse, boutique manager, “people really like to get into the fashion fall wear.”
This fashion outlet is excited to introduce another big name to their store, the Billionaire Boys Club. Shoppers have already cleared out some of the inventory.
“This is a unisex boutique, but the female clothes that we have are pretty much sold out,” said Rouse, “now we’re looking forward to get more in.”
Krudmart isn’t the only local business thriving during this holiday rush. Just a few doors down at 242 Grant St., the West Side Bazaar is also preparing for the influx of customers.
“Next week we have many more things coming in because we have more customers coming in for the holiday season,” said Novi Pulach, a vendor at the bazaar from Indonesia.
The bazaar has also teamed up with ZGM Fine Arts Gallery to offer a global market of products. Entrepreneurs from Indonesia, Nepal, Africa, Peru and others sell items from their native lands- and food too.
“We have some food from Peru, like cookies and potatoes,” said Paluch. “It is really good food.”
After satisfying your appetite, you can browse the booths of many vendors.
“We have jewelry and carvings from all the different countries,” said Paluch, “and for December we are giving 10 percent off.”
Shoppers can even have their purchases gift-wrapped.
Guercio & Sons Inc., located at 250 Grant St., has been providing the West Side with local, quality produce and groceries since it’s opening in 1961. Like any other retail store, Guercio’s is also already seeing an increase in sales.
Tom Guercio, treasurer of Guercio’s, said, “We get much busier with the holidays, especially Christmas and New Year’s.”
Unlike other small businesses, Guercio is not intimidated by the growing popularity of huge grocery chains.
“We have our own clientele and we get a lot of wholesale from the restaurants, so we’re not worried about competition,” he said.
West Side Stories, located at 205 Grant St., just opened its doors on July 15, so owner Joe Petri isn’t expecting a big holiday rush.
“I’m not expecting a huge rush of Christmas shoppers buying used books,” Petri said. “The bulk of our business is from people who are out shopping for themselves, buying used books.”
But Petri is still working on ways to get more holiday shoppers into the store.
“We do have some other things, gift certificates, gift item type things like hand made journals and also some jewelry,” he said, “so we do have some things that will appeal to Christmas shoppers.”
West Side Stories is also offering a special book bargain: If you purchase a $20 gift certificate you will receive an additional $5 gift certificate for free.
But making money isn’t Petri’s biggest holiday concern. West Side Stories is also hoping to contribute to the revival of the West Side community.
“We want to make books cheap and accessible to everyone and we want to help the neighborhood,” he said. “I feel like putting your money into the West Side is helping what has already been a great revitalization. We’re doing our little bit to help.”
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Brewery hopes to revive Buffalo tradition
By Kevin Freiheit and Melissa Kania
BengalNews Reporters
One of Ethan Cox's goals for his upcoming Lafayette Avenue brewery is to "embeer" Buffalo.
Community Beer Works, a project that has been brewing since Cox and David Foster came up with the idea in spring 2010, is slated to open in 2012 at 15 Lafayette Ave., near Niagara Street.
They chose the location for several reasons, partly because in a world where brewing has become largely industrialized, CBW will be a neighborhood brewery.
"We feel really good about being here," Cox said. "Bidwell Park, the Niagara River…. Grant [Street] is picking up, and we're helping with that."
Philip Kneitinger, a supporter of Community Beer Works, said he thinks it's a great location.
"So often, businesses stick to neighborhoods like Elmwood, Allen, Hertel - neighborhoods that are move-in ready and friendly - because maybe it's easier," he said. "Setting up on Lafayette, CBW found a building that suits them that isn't necessarily in a pretty part of town.”
Kneitinger said that by setting up on Lafayette, CBW will help to bring business and activity to a traditionally ignored part of Buffalo.
The building is also connected to Buffalo's brewing history. The Meyer Malting Company used the building for vehicles and storage, according to Cox, and out-of-town executives may have used the apartments on the second floor.
"All the grain stopped in Buffalo briefly and was stored in those towers," Cox said. "A malting industry was a natural thing to do; you've got all this grain and it's just sitting here. You can buy it, malt it and sell it for three times as much as what you bought it for."
The location near Niagara Street is also suitable for other reasons.
"For a small brewery where we're really depending on foot traffic," Cox said, "you really have to be in a place where people can get to," which is why the West Side location works.
City zoning laws dictate where businesses, industrial and commercial properties can be located, and Cox said the brewery is in exactly the right zoning location.
"There is some foot traffic," he said. "The immediate neighborhood is probably not our target demographic, but we're as close to that target demographic as we can be legally."
Ethan Cox, president of Community Beer Works, discusses how the process of brewing is both art and science, and how the two components come together:
Born in Ohio, Cox moved here when he was four and considers himself a Buffalo native. He attended Bennett Park Montessori, Olmstead 56 and City Honors before moving onto boarding school and going away for college. Stints in Boston, Tucson and Chicago led him back to Buffalo, where he and his wife chose to raise their family.
Foster, one of Cox's partners in the project, was born and raised in the West Side area, attending Lafayette High School and working at a local record store.
For both men, the location makes perfect sense for the brewery.
"I'm Buffalo through and through," Cox said. "This is our community."
To stay connected with the neighborhood, Community Beer Works plans to partner with the Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) and urban farmers.
Cox referred to MAP's tilapia growing project as an example of how Community Beer Works plans to remain involved in the neighborhood. Donated grain will be fed to worms, which turn compost into fine dirt. The dirt is then distributed into the aquaponics system and helps to filter water, which is pumped through a system for the tilapia tanks.
Cox said many breweries do something responsible with their grain, often donating it to farms to feed cattle.
"This works for Buffalo and for our community," Cox said. "They're right there and we're small enough, and their needs are small enough."
Urban hop farms are another project that Cox is interested in.
He's been contacted by people from Wheatfield and the East Side of Buffalo who are growing hops, which is a complicated process because hops need to be dried and processed before they can be used.
Although the hop-growing process is very involved, Cox said he loves to use fresh hops and wants to encourage professional, but small-scale, local hop agriculture, as well as all different aspects of brewing a beer culture.
"Once or twice a year, we probably can make a beer with just people's backyard hops," he said. "That won't be the same beer year after year at all; that will be fun."
ox said Community Beer Works does not have a targeted open date yet, but mid-January is a realistic expectation for when brewing will begin. They have put in their application to the State Liquor Authority, and construction is still in progress. After that's finished, it will take two weeks to brew the beer.
Aside from the goals of making enough money to stay in business and producing 'ridiculously good' beer, Community Beer Works has one main goal.
"I hope we kick-start a brewing focus and a brewing culture in Buffalo," Cox said.
He said preservation and architecture are great efforts, but a city needs diversity and bringing a brewing culture back here will provide just that, giving Buffalo a new identity.
"The Buffalonians that are left here are pretty into Buffalo," Cox said. "Those that remain are the kind of die-hards, and this town can easily support a bunch of breweries."
Kneitinger said that Buffalo's brewing culture is largely due for a revival.
"Buffalo once boasted dozens upon dozens of small breweries, but as time rolled on, they all vanished," he said. "With this new craft brewing movement starting to really pick up steam, it feels like small brewing endeavors can really take off again and a place like Buffalo would embrace it. For CBW to join big players in Buffalo like Flying Bison and Pearl Street, it helps reestablish that Buffalo brewing tradition again." Edited by Samantha Murphy
BengalNews Reporters
One of Ethan Cox's goals for his upcoming Lafayette Avenue brewery is to "embeer" Buffalo.
Community Beer Works, a project that has been brewing since Cox and David Foster came up with the idea in spring 2010, is slated to open in 2012 at 15 Lafayette Ave., near Niagara Street.
 |
| Ethan Cox stands amid construction at Community Beer Works |
"We feel really good about being here," Cox said. "Bidwell Park, the Niagara River…. Grant [Street] is picking up, and we're helping with that."
Philip Kneitinger, a supporter of Community Beer Works, said he thinks it's a great location.
"So often, businesses stick to neighborhoods like Elmwood, Allen, Hertel - neighborhoods that are move-in ready and friendly - because maybe it's easier," he said. "Setting up on Lafayette, CBW found a building that suits them that isn't necessarily in a pretty part of town.”
Kneitinger said that by setting up on Lafayette, CBW will help to bring business and activity to a traditionally ignored part of Buffalo.
The building is also connected to Buffalo's brewing history. The Meyer Malting Company used the building for vehicles and storage, according to Cox, and out-of-town executives may have used the apartments on the second floor.
"All the grain stopped in Buffalo briefly and was stored in those towers," Cox said. "A malting industry was a natural thing to do; you've got all this grain and it's just sitting here. You can buy it, malt it and sell it for three times as much as what you bought it for."
The location near Niagara Street is also suitable for other reasons.
"For a small brewery where we're really depending on foot traffic," Cox said, "you really have to be in a place where people can get to," which is why the West Side location works.
City zoning laws dictate where businesses, industrial and commercial properties can be located, and Cox said the brewery is in exactly the right zoning location.
"There is some foot traffic," he said. "The immediate neighborhood is probably not our target demographic, but we're as close to that target demographic as we can be legally."
Ethan Cox, president of Community Beer Works, discusses how the process of brewing is both art and science, and how the two components come together:
Born in Ohio, Cox moved here when he was four and considers himself a Buffalo native. He attended Bennett Park Montessori, Olmstead 56 and City Honors before moving onto boarding school and going away for college. Stints in Boston, Tucson and Chicago led him back to Buffalo, where he and his wife chose to raise their family.
Foster, one of Cox's partners in the project, was born and raised in the West Side area, attending Lafayette High School and working at a local record store.
For both men, the location makes perfect sense for the brewery.
"I'm Buffalo through and through," Cox said. "This is our community."
To stay connected with the neighborhood, Community Beer Works plans to partner with the Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) and urban farmers.
Cox referred to MAP's tilapia growing project as an example of how Community Beer Works plans to remain involved in the neighborhood. Donated grain will be fed to worms, which turn compost into fine dirt. The dirt is then distributed into the aquaponics system and helps to filter water, which is pumped through a system for the tilapia tanks.
Cox said many breweries do something responsible with their grain, often donating it to farms to feed cattle.
"This works for Buffalo and for our community," Cox said. "They're right there and we're small enough, and their needs are small enough."
Urban hop farms are another project that Cox is interested in.
He's been contacted by people from Wheatfield and the East Side of Buffalo who are growing hops, which is a complicated process because hops need to be dried and processed before they can be used.
Although the hop-growing process is very involved, Cox said he loves to use fresh hops and wants to encourage professional, but small-scale, local hop agriculture, as well as all different aspects of brewing a beer culture.
"Once or twice a year, we probably can make a beer with just people's backyard hops," he said. "That won't be the same beer year after year at all; that will be fun."
ox said Community Beer Works does not have a targeted open date yet, but mid-January is a realistic expectation for when brewing will begin. They have put in their application to the State Liquor Authority, and construction is still in progress. After that's finished, it will take two weeks to brew the beer.
Aside from the goals of making enough money to stay in business and producing 'ridiculously good' beer, Community Beer Works has one main goal.
"I hope we kick-start a brewing focus and a brewing culture in Buffalo," Cox said.
He said preservation and architecture are great efforts, but a city needs diversity and bringing a brewing culture back here will provide just that, giving Buffalo a new identity.
"The Buffalonians that are left here are pretty into Buffalo," Cox said. "Those that remain are the kind of die-hards, and this town can easily support a bunch of breweries."
Kneitinger said that Buffalo's brewing culture is largely due for a revival.
"Buffalo once boasted dozens upon dozens of small breweries, but as time rolled on, they all vanished," he said. "With this new craft brewing movement starting to really pick up steam, it feels like small brewing endeavors can really take off again and a place like Buffalo would embrace it. For CBW to join big players in Buffalo like Flying Bison and Pearl Street, it helps reestablish that Buffalo brewing tradition again." Edited by Samantha Murphy
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