Cover Story |
What The Market Will Bearby Geoff Kelly |
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Reformers seek to wrest the Broadway Market from the hands of a static board
Noon on a Tuesday at the Broadway Market. Outside a man is hawking athletic socks, while another challenges passersby to a chess game in the scant shade of a maple tree in a concrete planter. About a half dozen people stand in line at a hot dog stand. The corner is a meeting place, alive with action and conversation. Traffic is brisk, on the street and on the sidewalk.
That’s the outside. Inside, the market is quiet and nearly empty. But for the PA system playing classic rock, you could hear a clock ticking. Twice in the past two weeks I’ve visited the Broadway Market at lunchtime and counted no more than a dozen customers in the cavernous main hall. Half of those are elderly men and women sipping coffee from paper cups in the food court. At least a third of the active vendors left in the market—there are 34 right now, compared to more than 50 just 10 years ago—are shuttered. Excluding the Save-a-Lot grocery store and the market’s four lunch counters, which were busier, I counted six cash transactions between customers and vendors in one hour.
Six sales in an hour. Fewer vendors, fewer choices. What’s wrong with this place? The Broadway Market has survived 120 years, and the last 30 have been tough, but never has its prognosis seemed so grim. Where are the customers? Why have so many vendors leave? Is it the neighborhood, whose economic decline mirrors that of most every other East Side neighborhood? Is it racism? Is it competition from suburban supermarkets? Is it poor public transportation and the market’s distance from the downtown core? God knows it can’t be lack of parking—thanks to a car-centric reconstruction of the market in 1late 1950s, there are 1,300 parking spaces in the attached ramp, which are almost always mostly unused.
“It’s a shell of its former self,” Eddy Dobosiewicz says of the Broadway Market, ticking off a list of painful departures in the last decade: Max Poultry, Redlinski’s Meats, and Charlie the Butcher among them. “It’s like walking though a ghost town.”
In contrast to the sleepy corridors of the market, a political fight to change the way the market is run, smoldering in back room negotiations for a year, has suddenly caught fire these past three weeks. The players are a handful of community activists, the market’s board and executive director, and Buffalo Common Coucil President David Franczyk.
A board with no direction
Franczyk acknowledges the decline of the surrounding neighborhood as a contributor to the Broadway Market’s decline, which he recently called a “slow-moving train wreck.” He ought to know about the neighborhood: He and his wife live a couple blocks from the market on Fillmore Avenue. And he knows aboutm(and, to some degree, should answer for) the market’s dysfunctions too: He’s represented the Fillmore District since the 1980s, with one stint in the private sector, and so has appointed his share of baord members.
In the past week, however, alongside a group of East Side community activists and former Broadway Market board members, Franczyk has argued that the market’s torpor is the result of poor governance, lacking in vision and plagued by conflicts of interest. Franczyk’s efforts in the past year to populate the board with active, forward-thinking members—who brought new ideas for promoting the market and using it as a venue for regular events—have met with resistance from board members, some vendors, and the market’s executive, Richard Fronczak. Fronczak and his board, says Franczyk’s coalition of reformers, have been managing the market’s decline rather than seeking ways to revive it. Whether that’s the result of incompetence or indifference, they say, something needs to be done quickly.
At the June 24 meeting of the Common Council, Franczyk proposed a solution: The city owns the building that houses the Broadway Market, and the Broadway Market Management Corporation’s lease is due to expire on June 30. Franczyk proposes that the city allow the lease to expire. Then, he says, a new governing body can be formed and city can negotiate a new lease with that body. The current board and management structure would simply dissolve—no negotiations, no resignations.
Franczyk’s drastic solution is a response to this combative resolution drafted by the current board leadership at the Broadway Market and issued last Thursday (grammar and spelling errors intact):
Whereas reports have arisen in the news media regarding the need to reimagine the Broadway Market.
Whereas Former Council Member Karen Ellington obtained a One Million Dollar Bond for the Broadway Market several years ago.
Whereas the city of Buffalo, Common Council has authorized, but not delivered the One Million-Dollar Bond for the Broadway Market.
Whereas it has become apparent that the Broadway Market is in need of immediate delivery of the authorized One Million Dollar Bond, which would allow the Board to reimagine the Broadway Market.
Whereas David Franczyk is the Common Council representative for the Broadway Market and is the Common Council President and as our representative has a duty and responsibility to obtain the delivery of the One Million Dollar Bond.
Whereas David Franczyk was critical of the Broadway Market and it’s management but has failed to obtain the delivery of the One Million Dollar Bond over several years.
Be it resolved the Broadway Market Board of Directors here by schedules a public regular meeting to be held in the Broadway Market front public area Thursday June 26, 2008 at (12:00 P.M.) Noon.
Be it further resolved that Council President David Franczyk as an Advisory Broadway Market Board member be directed to attend and report on the time of delivery for the One Million Dollar Bond issue.
The angry resolution invited the public and city officials to attend a public forum on the Broadway Market’s future at noon today (Thursday, June 26). The meeting takes place at the Broadway Market.
That resolution was drafted in response to a June 17 Buffalo News article, whichoutlined criticisms of the market’s current management, as seen by community activists like Eddy Dobosiewicz, Christopher Byrd, Marty Biniasz, and others. The article irritated Fronczak, who said the doom and gloom frightened tenants, who wondered if the market was in danger of closing.
And the resolution infuriated Franczyk, who disputes the claim that he has ignored the market’s needs. He quickly issued a letter to Broadway Market tenants refuting the claims made in the resolution, which was circulated by board vice president Helen Wybluski and signed by board vice president Cheri Altemoos. It was he, not Ellington, who acquired approval for the sale of $1 million in bonds to improve the market’s infrastructure. That $1 million disappeared with the state’s imposition of the city’s control board, which put a tight lid on the city’s capital expenditures, canceling projects that were not deemed essential. He detailed the financial aid and relief the city had directed to the Broadway Market over the past 20 years: nearly $400,000 in community development block grants; nearly $800,000 for infrastructure improvements; paying half the utility bills since 1988; in 2000, dismissing $362,000 in utility bills that went unpaid despite that relief; forgiving the annual requirement that the market budget $50,000 into a capital reserve fund; a lease deal that costs just $1 per year.
Fronczak argues that the Broadway Market has become profitable under his management and the current board, running a combine surplus of more than $80,000 over the past three years. The grants and forgiven debts, Franczyk counters, are the only reason that the market manages to stay in the black.
Fronczak calls Franczyk’s efforts “a poltical struggle,” whereby the council president seeks to gain control of the market. “We don’t want political arguments going in here,” Fronczak says. “For that reason we don’t really want politcal grants and funding going on here.” Nonetheless, he wants that million-dollar bond in order to give the market a facelift. And he wants a new lease, to provide security to current and prospective tenants.
“The million dollars is a red herring, a canard,” Franczyk says. “Money is not the problem. All the money in the world is not going to save the market with this leadership. You could put in gold urinals and it wouldn’t make any difference.”
Missteps and bad politics
Christopher Byrd, who resigned in frsutration from the market’s board in January, agrees with Franczyk that more city money is not enough to right the foundering market. The onerous utility bills might certainly be relieved by updated systems; the boiler in the basement, for example, is at least 50 years old. That’s the responsibility of the city as the market’s landlord. But infrastructure alone won’t bring new customers, despite the market’s habit, as Byrd described it in his resignation letter, of putting “its hands out waiting for someone to help it.” A new boiler is no subsitute for a marketing plan.
“There is that relationship between the market and the city that is fractured,” says Byrd. “And, having sat on the board, I don’t know if they city can fix it, the way the board views the city. ‘Throw money at us and leave us alone,’ that’s what the board wants.”
The problem, Byrd says, is lack of vision. He took a position on the board because he imagined that it could be a part of the larger effor to revitalize Buffalo’s old Polonia dsitrict, which revolves around fixtures like the Central Terminal, St. Stanislaus, Corpus Christi, and the Adam Mickiewicz Library. This year Byrd was voted in as president of the board by a bloc of similarly minded progressives, offering a glimmer of hope for those who hoped to change the way business is done at the market.
But the current board leadership managed to retain power by invalidating the vote that won Byrd the presidency, through a series of shenanigans that included ousting one board member on a technicality and fetching a compliant former board member from a nursing home to take his place, in order to make a quorum. In the aftermath, Byrd resigned; the old leadership returned and booted reform-minded board members Marty Biniasz and Father Anzelm Chalupka of Corpus Christi Church for missing too many meetings, which are held at 8:30 in the mornings on weekdays—tough to make for working professionals.
For all the complaints about lack of public money, the current management practically threw away $1.2 million from Congresswoman Louise Slaughter in 2006. Slaughter, who was instrumental in the successful rejuvenation of Rochester’s public marketplace, earmarked the money for a public kitchen and a variety of much-needed infrastructure improvements. But Fronczak and the board conspired to use $1 million of Slaughter’s earmark to lure in a new tenant who proposed to open a factory outlet selling discount clothing—not at all in line with Slaughter’s vision of the market as a hub for community development and a source of healthy food in a multicultural neighborhood. Slaughter took her money off the table and walked away, disgusted, vowing never to help the market while Fronczak was still there.
“They wanted to give this guy $1 million, Slaughter’s money, to open a factory outlet,” Franczyk says. “Is that right for the market? He subsequently went out of business. If you had given this guy $1 million, he probably would have skipped town.”
More recently, when the departure of KeyBank left the market with nagging vacancy and a loss of $6,000 per month in rent, Fronczak and the board courted a check-cashing operation based in New York City. Maybe check-cashing is a sevice the neighborhood needs, says Dobosiewicz, but it hardly burnishes the market’s already downtrodden image. “This is the plan there: Get whoever you can who will pay rent, don’t worry about who they are and how they fit in with the market,” he says.
Fronczak says that the fight Franczyk has started has threatened to scared off even that new tenant. “People want some assurance that the market is going to be there before they invest,” he says. “[Franczyk saying the market could be closed by Easter doesn’t help us bring in new tenants.”
What the future might look like
Fronczak says that the Broadway Market will never be the market of 30 or 40 years ago, when food was its central product. He says the market now serves its immediate neighborhood day to day, which means services like check-cashing and goods like makeup and clothing. It serves the broader region at Easter time, when its main products are the meats, breads, and butter lambs that folk associate with the name.
Beverly McLean doesn’t buy that the market’s focus on food is a thing of the past. McLean is a professor at University at Buffalo Department of Architecture and Planning, and has worked closely with the Broaway Market’s management. She is lead author of a recent study, “Broadway-Fillmore Neighborhood Food Alliance: A community food development strategy for Broadway Market,” which ably describes the market and the community it anchors. McLean has visited public markets across the country, and she too believes the failures of the Broadway Market are, at least in part, the result of shortsighted management.
“It’s run right now with the emphasis on operations, without an understanding of economic development,” McLean says, adding that she believes Fronczak has been a strong fiscal manager. “It’s very difficult for a market to succeed without an undertsanding of its community role.”
In other words, the management of the market is doing its best to get along without engaging any strategy to grow the market, engage the surrounding neighborhood, and perhaps serve as a catalyst for the neighborhood’s recovery.
That’s not entirely the management’s fault, McLean says. The city has not been an especially good landlord, and politicians have fought proxy battles through the Broadway Market’s board for decades. The place needs a physical overhaul, which costs money, and its governing structure needs reform, which also requires governmental intervention.
“It goes beyond the current regime,” she says, and indeed the current board leadership was put in place in the wake of a 2000 audit performed by then City Comptroller Anthony Nanula, who said at the time that the causes of a purported $380,000 debt ranged from poor planning to outright theft. That crisis led to public outcry that the market was closing, and in the ensuing power struggle the debt was forgiven in exchange for new management.
Public markets in Columbus, Cincinnatti, and Seattle have almost closed, as well, says McLean, but two things saved them: cash investment in infrastructure and community groups that formed in order to advocate for governmental support, to program events, and to promote the markets. She says the Broadway Market needs a “friends of the market” group, too, and a board of directors who are willing to entertain their ideas.
The current board has been less than receptive to new marketing ideas; they only halfheartedly went along with a Christmas market event last year, for example, which turned out to be hugely successful. Tenants who suggested a Fourth of July promotion were told it was bad idea. Why? Because it had never been done before. And management seems unwilling to accept the conclusions of customer surveys that indicate the market would attract more business if it stayed open past five o.clock on weekdays and instituted Sunday hours.
Sandy Starks is a founding member of Western New York’s convivium of the Slow Food movement and a career professional in the food and wine industry. She was one of the organizers of the Christmas market, an effort in which she received so little cooperation from the market’s management that it wound up costing her money. She’s one of a number of Broadway Market enthusiasts who are waiting in the sidelines to contribute their ideas and expertise to the rebirth of the market. Starks imagines organic vegetable stands, high-quality coffee, good cheeses, and microbrews to draw in customer with expensive tatses; she imagines reaching out to potential new vendors in the Fillmore District’s burgeoning Vietnamese and Muslim communities, as well as a consistent effort to include the district’s majority African-American population in the market’s cultural history and governance, which have been an island of Eastern European whiteness in a neighborhood that is predominantly African American. Starks imagines events every weekend, promoted not only by individual participants but by the market’s management. Starks, Byrd, and Dobosiewicz point to the Clinton-Bailey market—in an equally distressed neighborhood, even further removed from downtown—as an indication of that the Broadway can succeed.
Franczyk is convening a task force comprising people like Starks, McLean, Byrd, and Dobosiewicz to discuss the market’s future. He says he hopes to professionalize the board, removing the influence of politicians who currently name most of the board members. (He names two.) And he says he has the support of Mayor Byron Brown in whatever that task force decides, which decreases the possibility that the Broaway Market—a place with no patronage to speak of, where instransigence seems more of a habit than a question of personal gain—might once again become the victim of a political struggle.
“If I blame myself for anything, it’s that I waited too long,” Franczyk says.
Reader Comments
BillsFan 26 Jun 2008, 13:39
What the Broadway Market needs is a real Buffalo theme. Add a LaNova's
express, a Bills shop, an Anchor Bar or Duff's, and flat screen tvs that
show all the Bills and Sabres games. The BM should be opened on Sundays
too, so you can watch the Bills there when the games are SOLD OUT!!!! Bills
players could go there for lunch and to sign jerseys too. The BM should be
about Buffalo, and that means you should be able to get pizza and wings and
see the Bills. Go Bills!!!!!!
BroadwayMarketGirl 26 Jun 2008, 16:22
Put your money where your mouths are- I work at the Broadway Market. I have a question to pose for all the politicians and "community activists" out there who are so vocal about the problems at the Market - where do you buy your groceries???? Do you buy your meat at Lupa's, Camellia's and Malczewski's or WEGMANS? Your fresh produce at Lewandowski's, Famous Horseradish, or TOPS? Bread at White Eagle or E.M.? Do you put your money where your mouth is? I don't think so. How much money do you spend at the big chain grocery stores that you couldn't spend at the Market? I never see any of you with grocery bags!! Could Wegmans survive if people only bought the newspaper and a doughnut or pastry? I don't think so either. So let's start by financially supporting the vendors at the market. Next time you are at Wegmans, ask yourself, could I buy this at the Broadway Market instead? Let's all pledge to do that. With a little more money in the vendors' coffers, they can afford to buy more inventory, advertise, hire entertainment, have more special events - see how that works? There IS a solid customer base at the Market. If there weren't, how could some businesses afford to expand? Jabco General Store expanded not once, but twice in the past few years. Melanies Sweets opened a new location in the Market to supplement her Theater District store. Sure a couple businesses closed, but others thrive and have supported their families for years. They are thankful for those who do patronize the vendors at the Market and spend their money here! We couldn't do what we do without you! You can buy a great variety of goods at the Market - you can purchase produce, meat, poultry, baked goods, gifts, clothing, toys, jewelry, spices, vitamins, greeting cards, art, just about anything at the Market and Save-A-Lot. And you can save money too! The prices are better and you don't have to have a Bonus Card! Maybe an advertising circular would help, so customers can see the savings that can be had. Just so you know BillsFan, you can get chicken wings at the market at and buy Bills, Sabres, and other Buffalo theme clothing and souvenirs too. I think broadcasting "Big Games" at the market would be a lot of fun too, especially for the elderly population who frequent the market to meet up with friends. Who wants to watch a game alone at home? That's a great idea. Let's come up with some more great ideas instead of preaching doom and gloom. Everybody, come to the Market more than once a year and spend some money!
BroadwayMarketGirl 26 Jun 2008, 16:37
p.s. Did you know you could buy eyeglasses, get your watch fixed, pay your
bills, pick up something homemade for dinner at either Mackenzies,
Perisons, Jacob's Cafe, E.M. Bakery, stop at the ATM at the full-service
M&T Bank that is still in the Market, get a Lotto ticket for tonight's
drawing, have some coffee, and more in one trip? Great gas saver!!
BillsFan 26 Jun 2008, 18:05
The BW market sounds great, but where is the Bills stuff. It should be
painted red, white and blue, like the Bills. It needs more wings and pizza,
like Buffalo. It needs a live Buffalo in the middle of the market to show
that Buffalo is back on its feet. If it was made into a tribute to the
Bills and Buffalo, if it was built that way, they would come!!!!
S. Wilson 26 Jun 2008, 23:41
BroadwayMarketGirl, It sounds like you work for the management! I live in the neighborhood. How come the market isn't opened longer hours?
Broadwy Market Girl Doesn't Get It 27 Jun 2008, 08:25
Any one with five minutes of retail experience can tell you what's wrong
with the market. The older vendors at The Market are as out of touch as
management. Look at the shoddy/garage sale type stands even the "polished
professionals" are operating. And I shop there at least one a month. People shop where it is pleasant to do so. The management at the Broadway Market has not only failed to grasp this concept but has served to make it more difficult for VOLUNTEERS to assist in this effort. And can anyone tell me what sort of grants/fund raisers they've managed to put in place (or even apply for) since receiving status as a non-profit? As for those who suggest that the neighborhood is more to blame for the state of The Market, a short trip to the Rochester Market will prove you wrong. Slaughter helped that one along. It's in a neighborhood just as bad as the Broadway Market, but it doesn't have the advantages of being: A.) in an area loaded with other architectural treasures of historical significance B.) an Easter season mecca-like attraction What it does do is fill a gap by providing fresh, healthy (and in some cases) gourmet food. This brings folks from the neighborhood and foodies from the suburbs in. People cannot live off of chruscki and horseradish alone, and the vendors and The Market do not give the appearance of being clean, well-operated locales. There is currently no attraction to The Market for the many people that currently flock to the Elmwood and Williamsville markets. And you won't get those farmers/vendors either, because The Market is like a dark cave lit by too few fluorescent bulbs, dripping with cheap crap from China, classic rock music, filthy walls and floors and vendors allowed to have their stands look dirty, cluttered and unorganized. And they keep bankers hours in a society where the bank doesn't even do that any more.
Broadway Market Girl 27 Jun 2008, 09:04
I agree that the market needs some cleaning up - but that's part of the
charm! In the old days, the floors were sawdust, and business was booming.
There were live animals! What's not healthy about rye bread made without preservatives, fresh chicken, fresh fruits and vegetables? Home-made peirogi is also pretty healthy for you. There's more than desserts and horseradish!!!! Sure there is imported merchandise, but what retailer in Buffalo doesn't carry "crap from China"? Go to any store on Elmwood, Target, WalMart, etc. turn something over and see where it was made. Chances are, not in America. But at the Market you can also buy items made right here in Buffalo, sometimes even on the premises. Books written and published in Buffalo, peirogi made by priests, strawberris dipped in chocolate right in front of your eyes! It lacks the "snob factor" that the Elmwood and Williamsville markets have maybe, and entertainment would be great, but again, you need to make money to afford to hire entertainment. It would be great to be open longer hours - but it costs money to hire people to work those hours. This includes security guards, maintenance men, etc. Of course you can choose to shop where you want, no one is forcing you to shop anywhere! Management, the Board, vendors, politicians, community activists and volunteers need to come together, accept help from each other, stop blaming each other, and get to work on improving and saving this historical Buffalo landmark.
whatithink 27 Jun 2008, 09:48
The truth is the Broadway Market no longer attracts even the bare minimum
of surrounding residents. If the facility hopes to become the booming
regional market that it once was, there must be some major changes made.
Cleanliness and organic goods are attractive to those willing to drive to
experience authentic Buffalo market traditions. Currently, the market
barely serves the basic needs of the surrounding community with limited
hours and limited variety. In additon, the market needs to play the largest
role in the community possible, serving as a hub for meetings, events,
parties, socializing and celebrations. The visibility of future market
improvements needs to shine far and wide through positive marketing and
frequent lublic events. Finally, the market needs to function as a
successful market, serving a variety of ethnicities. The neighborhood,
while still larely polish, is growing and ever changing. There are many new
comers who seek ethnic foods and wider variety. Attracting these
businessses is a tough job, one that can be done by a board that has a
fresh,new vision.
geezerwheeze 27 Jun 2008, 10:54
Fifty years ago, the Market was already becoming a memory. When I was a
little girl, my parents went there only occasionally outside of the annual
Easter pilgrimage. If I go at Easter, it's to remember; I buy things for
old times' sake, in memory of my parents and my own youth. Its future isn't
in its past. Its ties to Polonia seem to me to be holding it back. I can't
imagine anything that would make me shop there regularly; it's out of my
way, no matter what it sold. I would be glad to see it rejuvenated as a
neighborhood center, maintaining its usefulness and its physical presence
in the same way that the mosque on Sobieski has kept the old Polish
National Catholic building alive and vital for a neighborhood that has
changed its face many times since the German farmers planted their fruit
orchards in the area.
Market Vendor 27 Jun 2008, 13:44
As a Broadway Market Vendor, I agree we need longer hours. I agree we need
Sunday hours. I agree some of the stands look like a flea market but folks
this is not Saks Fifth Avenue. It is a Public Market. A place where
produce, meats, and sweets are sold. In recent years other vendors have
been added to bring diversity to the place. Have any of you naysayers
visited St. Lawrence Market in Toronto or Pikes Place in Seattle? I have
visited both and they are not pretty shopping Centers. Although they have
more customers, they have concrete floors, old bathrooms and vendor stalls
that look like flea market. I will be the first to agree that the Broadway
Market needs updating but don't bash these people who are struggling to
make a living when so many closed up shop and moved to the suburbs;
businesses and homeowners alike. Give these vendors some kudos for sticking it out. The rents at the Market are over $13.00/sq foot, not cheap for commercial space. My rent alone is over $2000.00 per month. Although difficult to pay at times, I make a living and am able to put food on the table for my family. Most of these vendors are either Polish immigrants or African Americans who didn't go to college or get a fancy business degree. They should have your respect because they have the guts to own a business in the worst part of town. They are trying to make an honest living when it is so easy now a days to get in the welfare line. We are not asking for a handout from the city. We are merely asking for the city to make the necessary repairs and updates to the building as any responsible landlord should. We have leaks throughout the building, an outdated sewage system, and heating and AC that doesn't work. Any landlord would have been taken to court long ago for not fixing these problems. These issues need to be adressed before this becomes another instance of demolition by neglect on another city owned property. I would also like to invite the person who is so critical of the vendors to come and open a business. I will even pay your rent for a month. I'd love to see your marketing and merchandising skills in action. It is always easy to criticize something you know nothing about. I am not going to get mixed up in the political mudslinging that has transpired this week. These personal attacks between the Board, Management and David Fronczak should never have been made public. This drama scene that we had to witness was embarrassing for all of us and only hurt the Broadway Market's future. There are a few of us seasoned vendors who are going to try to make a change but we need public support and customers. We are willing to fight for the Broadway Market to keep our businesses alive. All we ask is that you please support us.
Kudos 27 Jun 2008, 14:41
Yes, kudos to those vendors who continue to stick it out, live and work in
the city of Buffalo. You have my respect for trying instead of just bashing
this place. And to "Broadway Market Girl Doesn't Get It": your once a month shopping trip does not make you an expert!! After you run a business in the Market for a few years, then you can offer your "expertise".
asdasd 27 Jun 2008, 14:44
but she has a point
WNYMind 27 Jun 2008, 15:46
There are many problems with the market: hours, empty stalls, nothing nice
to look at. One answer to the whole problem. Close the market and open a
SuperWal-Mart there. That would be packed all day and night. It would draw
people from the entire city. They can let the old venders come in and sell
their wares in the parking lot at easter. Problem Solved!
Broadway Market Girl Doesn't Get It 27 Jun 2008, 22:51
Been to St. Lawrence, been to Pike's Place in Seattle. Would go to Brdwy
Makt once a week if it was a pleasant experience. And that's the thing. I
give credit to Pinch of Spice and Strawberry Island and all of the other
vendors down there making the best of what they got. That's why I make the
trip to shop for basic foodstuffs I could get around the corner from my
home. But what all of you fail to see is that doing the best you can is a
far cry from being the best you can be. A lesson can be learned from major retailers who never stop trying to capture new customers and keep the old. Unlike the citizens that populated the Earth when the Market was profitable, people in most of America now have a choice (due to options and modern transportation) about where they spend their money and they're going to pick what is convenient and pleasant. Now, because of the current state of the city, the Broadway Market is not going to be even a little convenient for most. So, guess what? That means you have to capitalize on the pleasant!!! Sawdust floors and a return to a more authentic market "feel" at this point would be a step in the right direction. Farmers at the Elmwood and Williamsville markets are making money hand over fist. People want that authentic experience. There is no authentic experience at the current Broadway Market. There is a shadow of the one that existed in the 60s (still not very authentic, if you ask me), which does the trick for the herds of folks that somehow relive their childhoods there every Easter, but there's no appeal to the customer with choice and no fond memories to help cover up the ugly, dirty space. It's also important to note that the customers that you're trying to attract--the ones with the most choices of all--also happen to be the customers with the money. Many of the vendors and the management at the market can't see the market for what it can be or what they themselves can do to try and make it happen. Let's face it, a building that big and disheveled in a neighborhood that downtrodden is a tough row to hoe. That's why you call in experts and creative energy (and ideas) from the outside and make a go of it. Movers and shakers in the community have sat on your board and volunteered their own time and their own money and, not only were they not thanked and appreciated, they were freaking snubbed. (For the record, I'm not one of them and I don't know any of them personally.) For cripes sakes, you've got 501c3 status, free utilities from the city and an annual magnetic draw/media miracle that most markets would kill for. Finally I ask you, what have you done with it lately?
avwrobel 27 Jun 2008, 23:34
Wow! Lots of great ideas out there. I love the Broadway market because
its such an authentic Buffalo place. But the one writer is right, it looks
dingy and unkept. Its multiculturalism provides an amazing springboard to
a very hip, cool future. Could you imagine busloads of people coming from
the outer region to shop there on excursions? I'll bet anything that
Canadians would love to make a stop there after the Galleria or Boulevard
Mall!! (oops, got to fix those hours)
Broadway Market Boy 28 Jun 2008, 11:15
It isn't the vendors that are a PROBLEM it is the management! Does anyone else see a trend in the comments? It all points to poor management. The Market needs to be out there marketing itself 365 days a yera and 366 during leap years. The city has helped the market Why do public markets in other so called "bad neighborhoods" around the country do well? I think vendors are allowing themselves to be scared by management and letting management tell them who to blame.
Broadway Market Girl Doesn't Get It 28 Jun 2008, 17:14
Broadway Market Boy, I'm glad we're in agreement here. I don't think that all of the vendors are to blame by any stretch. But, I think you'll admit that some of them are. They are terrified that someone with a similar (read= better) product to their's will come in and steal their business away, so the vendors that sit on the board have the power to veto potential vendors, and they have. Any one with a basic grasp of business and economics knows that competition breeds more customers (and makes vendors produce a better product and improved customer service). A smarter, sleeker, better run market will lead to an increase in demand and quality, and any of you that have been there recently know that some of these vendors won't make the "quality" cut. Also, many of the vendors are of the position that nay business is better than no business and so we have shoddily operated/marketed stands all over the place. If the rent really is $13 a square foot, than there must be a few of these vendors that are struggling to pay their rent because they certainly don't have any money left to properly merchandise their stands. The lady that sells used stuffed animals? The folks that sell moving pictures and cheap fleece blankets emblazoned with bad wild animal art? Baby bibs, cruddy jewelry, fake hair, and air brushed t-shirts? I can guarantee that you won't find any of those things at the markets that have been mentioned above. If someone is hand making a quality product, that's one thing, but this stuff is crap and is largely responsible (besides the condition of the building) for what makes the market look like a garage sale in the wrong part of town or the Super Flea on Walden and not Pike's Place Market or even the much smaller Rochester Market.
CaptainObvious 29 Jun 2008, 04:09
It's quite apparent that the first step to fixing this problem should be to
extend the hours. Do you know of any grocery and/or retail stores who
close at 5:00pm? I think this is a good place to start. A point was made
earlier that by having evening hours, suitable for most working class
people, there would be a need to pay for more BM personnel, like security
guards, other staff, etc. Of course, this is generally how businesses
work, no one gets a free ride. In all seriousness don't you believe that
longer hours will create more money -working class customers just getting
out of work - and this source of income should do more than offset the
price of doing business?
Broadway Market Girl Doesn't Get It 29 Jun 2008, 08:47
Captain Obvious, I think longer hours and Sunday hours are a no-brainer, and the smart vendors are ready and waiting for the opportunity to be open more. But, the hours have been ridiculous for so long, and the market has such a bad reputation, that I think it's too late for longer hours to save the market. People don't go out of their way to go there now, and even from downtown, since most people don't live on the east side, it is still out of the way, even after work. That only really makes the longer market hours a draw for those that live and work in that neighborhood. So, I imagine, in the near future, the management caves into being open longer hours in order to show that they're listening to everyone that's complaining. But, surprise, they do little else. Three-six months later we hear that the financial situation at the market hasn't improved, there just isn't that much more business from trying to be open longer hours and it has taxed their coffers to do so. Now management can rest on their laurels, sure that we were all wrong, and that their view that the neighborhood and all of Buffalo's Wegmans-shopping citizens are the problem was always the correct assessment of the situation. Can't you see it? So typical of do-nothings to make meager and pathetic changes and then be surprised when it doesn't have a miracle-level response. Hours are obvious, Captain. But it won't make it a better place to shop.
Buffalo Booster 29 Jun 2008, 21:54
The market's decline is part of a much larger problem. Certainly,
management has operated as if it were 1965 instead of today. Holding onto a
notion of a strictly Polish market will not move the place forward. There
is no vision.No vision of change. Dyngus Day 2008 had thousands descend
upon the Broadway- Fillmore area. As the parade moved past the market,
sadly, the doors were closed! Amazing.The neighborhood DOES contribute to
the overall health of the market. I visit the market twice a month. Rarely,
if ever, do I see suburban housewives shopping there.Who wants to drive
down Broadway for a head of lettuce past vacant buildings? Let's face it,
the neighborhood needs to be rebuilt. The same politician that is pointing
fingers, should have had a housing plan years ago. Reinventing the market
is the only answer. The multitude of farmers in the region can be a start.
Invite the Amish on a larger scale. They were active there for a bit & did
very well. The market must be unique.
Kudos 30 Jun 2008, 09:09
Well, shopping at the market IS pleasant for me. I don't go to every
vendor. But when I go into the store in the middle, as an african american
woman, I am not followed around like i'm going to stick something in my
pocket. They treat me like an equal, ask about my family, I have been
shopping there for years because I know they don't look down on me or act
like snobs. I am a college educated black woman, I read, I spend money. I
used to go into some boutique type stores on elmwood when i worked near
there, and i was watched like a hawk, i was so uncomfortable. you can keep
your snobby attitudes, i prefer to shop somewhere where i am treated with
respect. Even if it is a little less aesthetically appealing. and i can
still buy interesting and unusual stuff. where else on the east side can i
get a book on african american woman paper dolls? i like that they don't
assume because they are in a poor neighborhood, the people don't have any
culture. They should put the flea market type stands on one wall, make some kind of a uniform type enclosure for them. You don't want to put these elderly ladies who run those stands out of business. They are trying and this is there only source of income. let's be charitable here. like someone else said, they are not on the welfare roles, the are trying to run a business. And most non-for-profits have development directors who do things like write and apply for grants. Applying for grants is not a simple one step process. The city should hire someone to work with the business manager as a grant-writer/development director. You have to be educated in that field in order to write grants properly, I doubt a retail manager could do it on his own. Also, how about any asian immigrants in the area, open a little restaurant! that would be unique. make the food court area brighter. get rid of that roof they built over it. buy some matching table and chairs.
Sean 02 Jul 2008, 00:50
Hi Everyone, I must first say that I absolutely love the Broadway Market, and I still live pretty close to it. I remember as a little kid going there with my 100% Polish grandparents, and those are days I will always remember fondly. I would love nothing more than to be able to take my grandkids there someday. The unfortunate reality of the situation though is that bringing back the market will be very tough. As a student of marketing, I know that the two biggest things people look for in a business they want to shop at are CONVENIENCE and selection. The market still does have a selection, but no one lives in the area anymore, so it isnt CONVENIENT for anyone to shop their anymore. It is simply a victim of sprawl. A person living in Amherst is not going to make the trip to the Market to get some bread when they can just go down to the Wegmans on Sheridan, especially now with price of gas being so expensive. As much as I would love to find a way to bring the Broadway Market back to its former glory in its present location, it cannot happen. No amount of entertainment will bring people from the suburbs down to Bailey and Fillmore. Moving the market seems like a viable option but where could it go? Moving it to the suburbs would defeat it's purpose and would make it about as authentic as a quesadilla from T.G.I. Friday's. Bringing it closer to the downtown core would only have it compete with the Washington Market and the Lexington Co-Op. The only real answer to our problem is one that NO ONE is going to want to hear, because it's not an easy one. Silver bullets don't exist. We have to find a way to rebuild that neighborhood. Knock down more derelict houses and build new ones, (St. Stan's church is already doing a great job with that) and lobby the government to help. How about making the Broadway and Fillmore area a No Sales-Tax zone like what has been proposed for Main Street? In summation, I would love to see the Broadway Market thrive like it used to, not just during lent when people treat is as a novelty. It is definitely possible, it just will not be easy. That's the story of our city's future.
JAS
07 Jul 2008, 11:29
My parents owned a stand at the Broadway Market in the 1980's until they
retired. I have often worked at our stand to help out during the busy
timnes and during the Easter Holiday week - so I think I know something
about this topic. I'd like to share a few thoughts on the subject: 1 - Keeping the market open Monday through Saturday in it's current state and it's neighborhood location is a BIG MISTAKE. BUT keeping it open on say, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday or Sunday might make more economic sense. Even the Rochester Public Market is only open 3 days/week. I live on the West side of buffalo and don't often have the time to travel to the Broadway Market for fresh goods, especially when I have small gorcery, meat and fruit & vegetable shops in walking distance from my house. Driving across town to shop at the market does not make sense. 2 - In view of the fact there is a farmer's market on Main St. every Tuesday & Thrusday, and on Saturdays, farmers sell their wares at the Bidwell Parkway - keeping the Broadway Market open six days each week does not make economic sense. And don't forget the East Aurora Farmers Market, the Clarence Market, etc. There are many locations in the metro Buffalo area where one can purchase fresh goods from local farmers - again the need to keep The Market's doors open all week simply is not there! 3 - Cleaning up the market inside and out and making it brighter and more attractive is a must and a no-brainer. 4 - Cleaning up the neighborhood where it's located in is another MUST. In this case a public-private partnership with the Catholic Church and in particular with the 3 major churches - St. Stanislaus, Corpus Christi and the St. Adalbert's Basilica - in close proximity to the Market may prove successful. 5 - Don't forget the Train Terminal on Memorial Drive - it should be linked with the churches and the Market. In conclusin - it would be better to strive to operate the Broadway Market for 3-4 days each week - including Saturday and Sunday - with expanded hours and more vendors than propping up a losing venture in its current form. Leave a Comment:
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