[EVG photo from January]
Open Pantry, the 45-year-old coffee shop/grocery at 184 Second Ave., closed for good at the end of January. The proprietors, who also own the building here between East 11th Street and East 12th Street, have had the storefront on the rental market these past few months.
Now comes word, via the rumor mill, that Tompkins Square Bagels is looking to open a second East Village shop at this location.
We'll update when/if we hear back from TSB owner Christopher Pugliese.
Tompkins Square Bagels opened on Avenue A near East 10th Street in December 2011.
Previously on EV Grieve:
After 40-plus years, Open Pantry looks to be closing on 2nd Avenue
32 comments:
That's good news, although two Tompkins Bagels might be confusingly too close. The owners of the building, I remember, when they were closing, saying they definitely did not want to rent to another bar, so they are good on their word. And it doesn't get any better than this. Bless them.
The march towards becoming a franchise has started.
Please please please please!!!
No more d bag bars and chain stores... Promise to go every day!
I don't go to the Avenue A location as much as I did when it first opened because it is now so busy at peak times and they don't have my favorite bagels left later in the day, so I welcome a Second Avenue location. I walk that way every day, and maybe now I can get my favorite bagels more often!
Look fwd to welcoming them!
Oh cool - bagel wars! No losers in that conflict!
I am always happy to make the hike from Gramercy to Avenue A. Hope a 2d Avenue location turns out to be right!
That would be great. Chris is a fantastic guy!
They need it badly. The place has struggled to maintain its consistency with how busy it is, and delivery is essentially useless since it takes close to 2 hours to get your food. The food is amazing, though, so I hope a second location can solve some of the problems.
Win.
Good news but I thought East Village Cheese was going to move there.
Fervently hoping this is true! I don't think the two locations would be too close together at all.
Good, but I'll still miss Open Pantry. #SaveNYC
@bluejean 10:21 -- EV Cheese is moving to 13th and A
March towards becoming a franchise starts? Two locations? Someone needs to get a grip.
I don't go to the Avenue A location because it's too confusing to just get a bagel and a coffee.
Anonymous 1:21, The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.
If you want to wait in line forever for a French toast bagel with birthday cream cheese and photograph it and put it on facebook or twitter go to TSB, otherwise go to David's or the Native Bean.
I also avoid the Avenue A one because it's too busy. I just want a regular bagel place with regular bagels and regular coffee and regular crowds. Please open one.
Well , I love TSB. They make a great bagel. Yeah they're busy. So is Essa Bagel and so Is Murray's Bagels. TSB is probably better than both at this point. EV is lucky to have these folks and if we get two then I'll consider us twice as lucky.
I wish them luck, I just hope they get their shit together in the new location. Also, their bagels really aren't that good.
I think their bagels and spreads are top notch. Concerning the chain theory. No such thing as a bagel chain. Not like a Chipotle , Starbucks, or even The Bean , where you hire 5 or 6 kids who perform the same menial task over and over. Good bagel stores make most of their own product. Look closely at TSBs staff on a Sunday. Must be 25 people back there. Probably more in their basement making dough and spreads. That's why even the big dogs like Essa never open more than 2 or 3 shops. These guys don't get sh&t bussed in . That's what makes them special. I'm sure the guys at TSB see this more as a complementary store or perhaps a stratigac move to counter BS. Either way I wish them well. IMO they do a great job.
It really gets crowded on weekends, so I don't go as often as I'd like, but how can anyone argue against the bagels? I haven't had a better one in Manhattan -- not at Essa, Zucker's or David's.
Love the fact that "they're too busy" is being as a put-down in the comments here. I mean, what were they thinking bringing in a much wanted product into an area with few other option?!?
Their ordering system is so awful I stopped going. I really hope they learned from the first store and make this place less of a disaster. Waiting 30 minutes for a freaking bagel is just unacceptable.
I go to Ali on 7th Street. Get my bagel in 2 minutes.
If you don't like the long lines at at TSB then just go down the block to Empire Bisquits where the lines are short but you'll still have to wait just as long for your meal.
It's not just the lines for me, it is the bros and bras waiting in them. TSB caters to the new crowd who frankly have never had a good bagel so wouldn't know one. All they know is that it is must be good if everyone else is in line - they line up like sheep to the slaughter. I also don't get what's with all the childlike flavors - this isn't iceys - it's freaking cream chees.
What's with peopk picking on the wide selection of cream cheese flavors at TSB? Peeps act like they don't have plain or scallion cream cheese or something. They do. Order what you like and move the line along. Their bagels are fresh and delicious. I go to plenty of restaurants where I don't like 90% of the menu. But the 10% of the menu I do like is why I go there, Having a TSB in this space is much better than havng the Everything Bagels that closed on 3rd Ave, plus we get Black Seed bagels on 1st Ave, so no more walking for blocks in every direction just to get what NYC is supposed to be famous for, a fresh decent bagel.
TSB puts out a great bagel. As a result , they have long lines. They have no control over the demographics of the neighborhood. Not do they control who will or won't support them. Very time I've been in I've noticed a healthy mix if old and new EV. Weekdays especially . It's basically a neighborhood joint save for the weekends. But what EV restaurant isn't these days.
WOW. Some of the comments here are nuts. Go to TSB on a weekday at 3pm. You'll see nothing but neighborhood moms with their kids and EV types catching a break. You'll probably catch the owner himself washing his windows or cleaning his yard.And he'll chat you up a the drop of a hat. When's the last time you've seen Jeff Bezos set foot in a Starbucks!?
HAHAHAHAHA I totally agree. I fucking can't stand the corny Connecticut types that are like "yeah bra these are the best bagels in the world, we MUST wait on line!"
The bagels are good and I think the owner DOES want to be a neighborhood man and I appreciate him, but that college douche crowd that for some reason has taken over makes me never step foot in there. And the fact that it's impossible to get a toasted bagel.
Comment 2:36PM:
"It's not just the lines for me, it is the bros and bras waiting in them. TSB caters to the new crowd who frankly have never had a good bagel so wouldn't know one. All they know is that it is must be good if everyone else is in line - they line up like sheep to the slaughter. I also don't get what's with all the childlike flavors - this isn't iceys - it's freaking cream chees."
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