If there is one thing that you can say about Prish Moran, owner of Sweet_ness 7 on Grant Street, it’s that she is never idle. You would think that managing a rather large, multi-use building with both residential and commercial tenants would be a full time job. Prish operates the café, oversees the Grant Street Art Gallery, constantly interacts with her tenants, and brainstorms ways to create dynamic enterprises out of underutilized spaces.
In recent weeks, Prish has set her eyes on an entirely different area of the city. After being approached by Penny Wyatt, owner of a property located at the corner of Parkside and Russell, she decided that it was time to “get her hands dirty again.” According to Prish, the corner is perfectly situated to attract a large number of residents and nearby students from Medaille and Canisius College. “The block needs a coffee shop,” she told me. “I love the idea that it’s an awesome community… it’s a funky little strip that should do great with a two-corner patio. I’ve already been in contact with someone from The Martin House, and then there is The Zoo. I’ve worked out a deal with Penny – the two of us are going to make this work.”
S7 Café will serve up many of the items that have made Sweet_ness 7 the success that it is today, though the menu will be scaled down a bit since there will not be a grill. Prish told me that she can’t wait to get started on the building. She will be taking a similar approach that she did on Grant Street, working with Buffalo ReUse and turning the interior into an arts and crafts-style décor to play off the FLW flavor of the neighborhood. Local filmmaker John Paget will be filming the entire process in order to capture the essence of the transition. “I want people to see that it’s not as hard as it looks,” Prish said. “I want to create a visual manual for others, so that they can transform their own neighborhoods into destinations that they envision. People should be able to watch the work of others to learn what to do and what not to do. How do you work around issues that can be major stumbling blocks? We should be giving them a blueprint to revitalizing their own street corners.”
S7 Café
299 Parkside (Corner of Russell)