By Gus Saltonstall
The New Absolute Bagel is set to open in the former Absolute Bagels Upper West Side storefront on December 29, according to an employee and multiple West Side Rag tipsters who spoke to workers on Wednesday.
Nick, who did not want to share his last name, worked as the longtime manager of the original Absolute Bagels and confirmed to the Rag exclusively over text message on Wednesday that the new bagel shop at 2788 Broadway, between West 107th and 108th streets, plans to have its first day of business on December 29. Nick said that he will be working at the new shop.
He added that many of the former Absolute Bagels employees will also be staff members at the New Absolute Bagel, which is its official name as of Wednesday, according to the banner under the store awning.
“Hello, when passing Absolute today, one of the old employees was standing in the door and greeted me,” tipster Paul Martin wrote in an email to the Rag. “He said they are reopening on 12/29.”
A different email tipster who did not share their name added that they also were told on Wednesday the opening date would be December 29, and that “there will be two cash registers,” as opposed to the single register that the original Absolute Bagels had, which appeared to contribute to the store’s frequent long lines.
The New Absolute Bagel has no connection to the Thongkrieng family that ran the original bagel shop for three decades. The new owners are a group of partners who own a small number of bagel stores in New York and New Jersey, but are “not household names,” according to the broker of the property, Rafe Evans.
Absolute Bagels unexpectedly permanently shuttered in December of 2024. It is unclear how much of the old Absolute Bagels equipment will feature in the New Absolute Bagel store.
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The dual cash registers are the real news scoop
This is good news. Let’s hope the bagels are as good! The lines will be back in force!
I hope that’s true. The original owner killed that place for no reason. He could have just sold it to the employees who would have kept it running.
Would they have kept the roaches and rats also? That place was disgusting.
How do you know he killed it for no reason? Do you have info no one else does?
Did they get the original Absolute’s recipes? That’s what made for the long lines.
Hope these people who worked there before have cleaner habits than before!
how much is a bagel there? do I have to mortgage my apartment to afford a dozen? Is it cheaper than that PopUp Bagel Scam shop?
scam /skam/
informal, noun
1. a dishonest scheme to gain money or possessions from someone fraudulently, especially a complex or prolonged one.
Someone fraudulently forced you to go to PopUp and/or mortgage your apartment for it? You can’t read the prices and the details on the board?
Call your 2nd grade teacher for a refund.
Forced paired purchases is illegal in NY State. A paint store can’t force you to purchase paint and rollers. A cheese shop can’t force you to purchase bread with your cheese purchase. A supermarket can’t force you to purchase sugar when you buy a bag of coffee beans. Etc.
Yeah, I do recall the person who dragged me to the dominant company in the business, an unknown startup called PopUp, and forced me to buy that hyper-anticompetitive 3 bagels and a tub of cream cheese. I intend to sue him.
It was me.
Peter,
You mean illegally forced you to purchase cream cheese (your choice of flavor, Fruit Loop included) with your bagels.
Cream cheese is not a small part of the price, like some 50 cent dressing.
Also, I never wrote “anticompetitive”, all I did was point out that what PopUp is doing is illegal and provided some examples.
If PopUp wanted to do a special combo price in addition to selling bagels, then that would be legal.
Well stated, Peter.
Tired: Wondering when Absolute Bagels is opening
Wired: Wondering when Cocina Consuelo W 104th St is opening
Seriously? Is there going to be a Cocina Consuelo at 104st??
Was reported here. The old Malaysia Grill space.
But will the bagels be the same????
I’ll take Lenny’s level, those were almost as good as Absolute.
It’s not as good as the old one. I’m just stating that now to get ahead of the pack.
I think you’ve got our number!
Great scoop. Hope you get the “as first reported by” credit you deserve when other locals piggyback off your reporting before running it through ChatGPT.
Did they do a gut renovation? The insanitary conditions were a deal breaker for me. Fingers crossed.
They’ve been working in there for months. I expect it will be brand new
This is the same block the new Japanese market just opened, with Luckin coffee starting construction accross the street. The neighborhood is on the upswing!
We have reached peak Asian cuisine in this section of the UWS. Please PLEASE someone open something that caters to the rest of us!
-Cocina Consuelo at 104st
-Zoma Expresso Etheopian just opened at 108th/Columbus
-Absolute Bagels about to open at 107/108th
-Super Nice Pizza opened this year at 108th/Amsterdam and is INCREDIBLE
-Ayat opening soon at 106th/Amsterdam- Amazing Palestinian/Middle Eastern opening soon (other location in E Village and Bushwick).
That good enough?!
What do you mean “the rest of us”?
Fumo, Himalayan Curry House
RTA
It would be nice if we had a neighborhood bagel place with tables and coffee. The UES and the rest of the city have multiples. I miss Lenny’s!
It will have tables.
I don’t mind seeing some of the old faces as long as they’re not attached to the roaches and rodents that got the old establishment shutdown
None of the original equipment remains. The new owners totally redid everything in the space. The building put a lot of pressure on to make sure they comply with all health department rules and will not suffer from the vermin problems of the old one.
And no inside scoop on whether they will use the same recipe as the old Absolute.
Last bagel store was nasty with old cream cheese bunch old peoole