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Rainbow Bagel Feeding Frenzy Forces Williamsburg Bagel Store To Close "Indefinitely"
By
Scott Heins
Published Feb 17, 2016
Modified Feb 17, 2016
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Scott Heins/Gothamist
By
Scott Heins
Published Feb 17, 2016
Modified Feb 17, 2016
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The Rainbow Bagel phenomenon is swirling out of control. From ESPN's Super Bowl coverage to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the semi-sweet and multi-colored bagels have been showing up damn near everywhere—and its creators are scrambling to keep up with demand.
Authentic, swirl-color Rainbow Bagels are exclusively sold by The Bagel Store, which is owned by Brooklyn native Scot Rossillo and operates out of two locations. But since last Saturday, Rossillo's Bedford Avenue location on Williamsburg's Southside has been closed for business. A posting on The Bagel Store's Facebook page promised it would re-open Tuesday, but Wednesday morning's breakfast rush hour came and went—the outpost is still shuttered. A new social media post notified customers that the Bedford location will be "closed for renovations indefinitely."
The shuttered exterior of The Bagel Store's Bedford Avenue Location (John Del Signore / Gothamist)
According to the bakery's staff, the short-term closure is for longevity's sake. "We got slammed like you cannot believe," said Francine LaBarbara, The Bagel Store's Marketing Coordinator. "I haven't slept in a couple of weeks. I'm going to say it's been crazy its been crazy since Christmas. Business Insider put us over the top."
LaBarbara stressed that despite the long lines that have begun to snake around the store and up the block, Rossillo has refused to change his process in order to up capacity.
"What Scot will never do is jeopardize the integrity of the product," LaBarbara said Wednesday. While she hesitated to reveal how much of a revenue bump The Bagel Store has enjoyed during the current publicity craze, LaBarbara confirmed that their daily inventory of 800 Rainbow Bagels has sold out every day for weeks now. On top of that, special orders are regularly shipped for private events—LaBarbara has spent the last week sending custom colored bagels to Marvel Comics and Colbert's Late Show. But still, the Bagel Store has to turn down some would-be customers. There are only so many Rainbows they can make in a given day.
The line for rainbow bagels days before The Bagel Store abruptly closed. (John Del Signore / Gothamist)
"I'm either the most loved or hated woman in Brooklyn," LaBarbara said. She assures us that the Williamsburg location's closure has been for necessary store maintenance, and that Rainbow Bagels will return to Bedford Avenue in the coming days. "We needed to revisit everything that's happening, to make the shop better...The Graham location has been slammed. We really needed to take a second to regroup, and we can't wait to open the Bedford location to alleviate things."
"Everything had to be redone, to make sure we were okay. It's really just basic maintenance," LaBarbara said, adding that she hopes to once again have both Bagel Store locations open for business as early as Thursday morning.
For the uninitiated, here's how the rainbow bagels get made:
Video by Jessica Leibowitz
Tagged
rainbow bagel
the bagel store
original
Scott Heins
Scott Heins is a freelance photo and video journalist based in New York City, and a frequent contributor to Gothamist + WNYC. His work often centers around labor rights, housing, and policing. In 2018-2019 he traveled to four states while covering a wave of public school teachers strikes, with work featured in The New York Times, The Intercept, Getty Images, Splinter, and Bloomberg Photos. Scott is a dues-paying member of the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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