Buffalo Rising Online

Looks great. I like the red.

Now we just need crates of oranges and evergreens in wood planters out front!

What a difference a typeface makes! The sketch shows ELMWOOD MARKET written in the popular sans-serif font Helvetica (the font of the 20th century) and what was put up is a font with serifs which generally have an "old-timey" feel. The serifs and the red awning make this look a lot like Viddlers! Visually, I prefer the sketch.

I expect everyone to jump on this and say "look at these armchair [business speculators] [architects] [designers]. Please don't. I just like to point out what a difference in feeling a typeface makes. I still think the market is a great idea and wish it luck. I'll be sure to stop in when it opens.

WF at Elmwood/Auburn is much more popular in its neighborhood than the Co-op. Not even close. Time will tell about this new market, but it will be very difficult for them to ever get a WF level of daily customer flow. I doubt they expect to do that well even in their most optimistic thoughts. But good luck to them.

yea, all the section 8 and welfare recipients that live in that neighborhood really want gourmet coffee and bagels.

Good luck to them, but this corner is putrid.

the red looks like a pizza place, should have went blue

My goodness how starved is Buffalo for a shred of development, a shred of job creation, a shred of economic vitality that BUFFALORISING CONSIDERS AN AWNING NEWSWORTHY!!!!!!!

This post is pathetic in describing Elmwood and Buffalo and WNY.

If I dare mention the awning at the Elmwood Market as evidence of Buffalo's vitality and progress....I would be looked at as moronic idiot......sorry queenseyes....was it a slow newsday that you needed to reach into the barrel of the non-news and manufacture it as something we should care about.

sorry to say; you can all call me negative, but I am a realist. This place is going to fail miserably.

I really hope it doesn't, but this has to be one of the worst business ideas I have seen/heard of in a very long time. Terrible location.

Why does every business venture in this town revolve around food or booze?

This neighborhood could really use a grocery store like this, hope to visit when in town.

GDC, when you arrive in town, make sure you bring your pepper spray, just in case.

Hey, I am going to mow my lawn in May, I will supply a picture, once the snow melts... Discuss amongst yourselves!

Hmmmm I can't think of anything pessimistic, petty and mean enough to fit in with this thread. I guess I'll just wish them well. GDC- I agree, grocers are always welcome here in town.

As an Allentown resident and business owner I hope this market does well as a nice/upscale market is badly needed in this area, all we have at the moment are sleezy dirty corner marts that as I have said before, cater to the 40oz'er/scratch off ticket losers. Unfortunatley [and I hope I am wrong] after a few weeks, like Latino's problem, people will probably head back to Wegmans, not wanting to deal with the riffraff that over run the area.

@Risingdamp...When Wilson Farms closed their Caviar on Ice station, they lost me forever.

LivingForge: > I expect everyone to jump on this and say "look at these armchair [business speculators] [architects] [designers]. Please don't. I just like to point out what a difference in feeling a typeface makes. I still think the market is a great idea and wish it luck. I'll be sure to stop in when it opens.

Off:topic: one thing I noticed about Buffalo, compared to many other cities, is that there is a fairly low level of design literacy. Look at advertising for local businesses in the Buffalo News, for instance, and compare it to what is seen in other cities; it's quite primitive. The bike map from several articles back: Comic Sans as the dominant typeface? Local government Web sites are, for the most part, trapped in the late 1990s, and "branding" of the city and suburban communities is nonexistent.

Brush Script is the Helvetica of Buffalo. Local businesses LOVE Brush Script, and it's fa more prevalent in signage and advertising for Buffalo-area businesses than what might be encountered elsewhere.

Then again, good design is one of those fancy foo-foo yuppie traits that the plastic people of Charlotte and Phoenix embrace. The amateurish graphic design vocabulary of the Buffalo area is more authentic, honest and real. Brush Script forever!

Damp -

If it's copperplate then it's a version with an extremely minimized serif. Copperplate has noticeable serifs that I'm not detecting. Maybe it's the graininess of the rending. Is this the "red" section of EV? If so, is that why the awning was changed from blue to red?

The text is copperplate. The serifs do not read because of the resolution.

Damp and nyc, thanks for the correction. So, the difference between helvetica and copperplate aside, what do we make of the derivation from the design? No spaces between letters, highly visible serifs that seem exaggerated compared to the copperplate in the rendering. Red instead of blue. Again, the store is a great idea despite what all the Allen-downers are saying... but it's nice to have a conversation about the subtleties of design, as Dan said above.

They may have gone with red because it would be more attention grabbing. I think the blue would have been nicer in some regards and I especially like the inclusion of "bagels" etc on the awning. Because the building is very contemporary it would have been complemented better with a modern font and the subtle spacing of the letters as shown in the rendering. The blue band behind the lettering as a backdrop spanning the facade is also nice.

Regardless I think what was built works well. I hope they add exterior wood planters and displays as also shown in the rendering. Maybe a couple chairs and tables in the summer months. Overall it looks good.

can someone tell me why thye would open up a high end grocery store here as opposed to the waterfront where it is very much needed?

After reading the comments on this story, I feel compelled to share my thoughts...thoughts which I have never conveyed in the all the time I have been a BRO reader. Sadly, I am dismayed by the extent of the negativity I read. I have perused many articles over the several years that BRO has been online. Throughout, I have also read a plethora of negative, even vituperative comments about the stories, and the authors. In fairness to and in support of BRO critics, I understand why there is negativity out there. I'm not insensitive to the frustrations, broken promises, false hopes that Buffalonians endure and the need to vent that emotion. I recently lived in Buffalo for several months, and I saw firsthand the problems the city is beset with, and why, therefore, people feel anger, disappointment and disillusionment. That is valid and fair. But to channel all these emotions towards BRO, is both invalid and misplaced. BRO works doggedly to promote the positive changes that are underway in Buffalo. The changes are not happening as quickly as we'd like them to be. Fair. And yes, the changes, the plans, the ideas often hit roadblocks imposed by short sighted people in positions of authority. Hence the frustation and anger that Buffalonians and BRO readers rightly feel. I hear and validate that. But consider lobbing that anger at appropriate targets, not at those initiatives which are trying to do good in Buffalo. Changes, however slow, are finally happening. Irrefutable proof of that is going on right now in many places across Buffalo. And those changes are what BRO captures every day. I ask BRO readers to remind themselves this...who is BRO doing all this for? BRO invests its time, its energy, and its money for you...the people of Buffalo....to give you a reason to see the other side...to see that good things are finally happening in the city. BRO strives to give Buffalonians who have been scammed, deceived and taken advantage of for too long, a sense of optimism and opportunity that you deserve. I know people may read this and chafe at the Pollyanish attitude of my commentary. But, as I alluded to above, I am not dismissing the present state of the city, the myriad of problems the city faces, or the impact these problems have had on the psyche and will of its residents. And I am not advocating that every reader fall lock step behind every BRO article that is written. I value dissent. I value disagreement. Any online community is only as healthy as its willingness to embrace a range of opinions, both supportive and critical. But I also value respect. And that is what is, in my opinion, lacking on BRO these days....respect for other readers' opinions, respect for BRO writers, and respect for BRO itself. I am not proposing a BRO Kumbaya Lovefest take place this spring on Bidwell Parkway. I am suggesting that the BRO community can disagree, and can argue, and can criticize, and can be angry, but all this can be done in a spirit of respect - respect for those who have differing opinions, and respect for those who work to make BRO happen every day and every night. I appreciate that people may dismiss my thoughts given that I am a writer on BRO, and therefore, I have a preconceived bias. However, long before I was a writer for BRO, I was a reader. Why did I become a writer? For the very reason that BRO was founded. Because I wanted to be a player in and proponent of the good things that are happening to the city.

One thing we can all agree on, whether you are down on or up on Buffalo, is that Buffalo needs help. BRO is answering that call for help, by providing a forum for people to express their feelings, good and bad and by being a catalyst for change. We too, the readers of BRO, are also answering that call for help, simply by being part of the community and expressing our feelings and thoughts about how things are going. That's great. The passion, the intensity, and even the anger that spills onto the pages of BRO is, in fact, a testimony to the fact that people care about Buffalo. Now, if we can add some respect to all this intensity, imagine how much more we might be able to inspire each other.

I close with a final thought. Whether you are angry at or in love with BRO, its readers or writers... I don't think any of us can imagine a Buffalo without BRO. And that to me, is proof enough, that BRO has earned the respect it deserves.

jeez louise!

I'm excited about the new Elmwood Market, but I gotta say, we are also very lucky to have WF. A loaded question about livable communities in urban planning is "how far do you have to go to get a loaf of bread and some milk?" I lived in two other cities where you had to drive to a suburban supermarket to get a can of sauce and some noodles, and it sucked. WF provides accessibility. Not having micro-grocery stores is extremely inconvenient. Remember guys, Buffalo has neighborhoods where Wilson Farms provides the ONLY investment in the community and there are people out there without cars that like to eat. The people that can afford to live near Elmwood are lucky to have options. It beats driving or busing to Tops or Wegmans.