Niagara Street continues to impress. Along with a number of new infrastructure investments and business proliferations, father-daughter team Jessica “Jess” and Joe Buscaglia are relocating their mid-century modern enterprise – MIMO Decor – to the district. They are currently in the process of building out a significant space within the former Community Beer Works (CBW) building at 15 Lafayette Avenue, which was purchased by neighbors Barbara Rowe and Peter Sowiski of Abaca Press. CBW relocated to 520 7th Street back in 2018, but held onto its Lafayette building until just recently.
Jess told me that the building – along with the reawakened neighborhood – couldn’t have been a better fit.
“We love what’s going on on Niagara Street,” said Jess. “The building has everything that we need. We were running out of space at the Hertel location. We started there with 1400 sf and grew to 2500 sf, occupying three storefronts. The Lafayette building gives us 2500 sf (two main bays) and another 800 sf in for offices, work space, delivery access, and there’s a back courtyard. We’re building out the walls right now, for the storage and the upholstery side of the business. The ceilings are 15′ high, which gives us room to construct pallet racks around the perimeter, with a central showroom. The industrial risers will allow us to fit about 60 chairs… Then we’ll have vignettes, a cash wrap and desk, a place for design consulting, refinishing and upholstery, and in the summertime we can roll open the garage doors and put pieces out front, and/or out back in the courtyard.”
Jess said that the building, near the corner of Niagara Street (you can see the Niagara River) will have an industrial vibe, while being intimate at the same time. The move will allow her and her dad to expand upon their original vision, of creating another mid-century modern destination in Buffalo. And with CooCoo U located just down the street, Jess said that she envisions Niagara Street becoming a corridor for mid-mod vintage design.
Talking to Jess, it was easy to see just how great the need was for this expansion. Not only has she and Joe made a name for themselves locally, they have also become popular in neighboring markets. Back in the day, you would have to drive to Toronto to source furniture from multiple mid-century furniture and design shops. Now, Torontonians are coming to Buffalo. And so are people from Chicago, NYC, and Boston, according to Jess. That’s because the Buffalo market is still relatively affordable when it comes to this sort of highly-coveted furniture, with a wide range of offerings.
“We also work with a lot of production and film companies,” Jess mentioned. “That dissipated a bit during the pandemic, but it’s coming back again. We’re so excited for the Niagara Street Studio Complex. It’s just another reason why this area is so exciting. Filming in Buffalo brings people from all over the country, like LA and Atlanta – who have found out about us. We have a courier that goes to NYC every two weeks. NYC has become an extended community, and Boston as well. And locally, we’ve teamed up with ACME Cabinet Company in Kaisertown – they started a delivery service. We used to do that on our own, but now they are handling about 4-5 big deliveries for us a week.”
Once open, MIMO will feature tables, chairs, credenzas, dining room tables, hutches, artwork, ‘smalls,’ and everything in-between. All of it will be neatly organized and (mostly) separated by category. It’s going to have all of the great merchandise that was popular at the Hertel location, but supersized, along with numerous design services.
“Hertel was a great place to start,” said Jess. “It was natural advertising being on that high profile corner, but now we’re going to be more of a destination. We can’t wait to join all of these other businesses here that have sprung up, including Campus Wheelworks which is just across the way. It’s an exciting time to be over here. And we’re thrilled to have Barbara and Peter as landlords – it makes all the difference in the world having people who care about the neighborhood, and who have invested so much of their time and resources into Niagara Street.”
I can’t wait to see everything unfold – MIMO is going to be a splendid addition to a street that continually keeps me guessing, what’s next?
Jess and Joe are targeting an opening date for the end of May, 2022. The opening will coincide with MIMO’s 5-year anniversary. At that time, there will be a celebratory reception, which we will announce in coming weeks.
MIMO Decor | 15 Lafayette Avenue | Buffalo, New York, NY 14213 | (716) 873-0727 | Instagram | Facebook