Business Community

B’s Bagels to move to a new home

B’s Bagel shop, sandwiched next to a gym blocks away from the downtown waterfront, has found a new home.

Owner Brittany Erwin purchased the former O’Looney’s Pub on 56th Street and plans to make it a permanent home for the bagel shop by next spring. The current location on Uddenberg Lane will remain open until then.

The bagel shop basically outgrew its current space a month after opening in 2023. Today, if customers already fill the nine tables inside the building, the bagel shop offers a mat on which customers can sit in the grass nearby.

“When the (56th Street) property became available it was too good to be true,” Erwin said. “It’s a great location and had already been a restaurant and came with all the equipment and furniture.”

Brittany Erwin, owner of B’s Bagels, shortly after the shop opened in 2023. Julie Warrick Ammann

A good location

O’Looney’s closed in May. The Pierce County tax office still lists Joseph Brockert as the owner of the property since 2020.

The former O’Looney’s space, which is 3,556 square feet, is permitted for 144 seats with tables outside and inside and abundant parking. A much larger kitchen will allow the bagel shop to expand into wholesale sales to nearby coffee shops and stores, Erwin said.

“There’s a lot of synergy at the new location,” Erwin said.  “People can walk over from the nearby homes and apartments … (nearly as many people as) where we are now. I wanted downtown, but there’s so little space and what’s available is to rent and the prices are outrageous.

“This is a better long-term plan for us.”

What’s more, the expanded space will allow the bagel shop to sell at the Waterfront Farmers Market during the summer months. Erwin has long wanted to participate in the market, but the Uddenberg Lane location, which is about 1, 300 square feet, didn’t have the capacity to make enough bagels.

On average, Erwin said the shop makes about 800 bagels per day on weekdays and about 1,000 on weekends.

Why bagels

Erwin, a trained chef, began making East-Coast style bagels when she was a private chef, she said.  She expanded into making bagels for family and friends, then for pop-up events. When the space on Uddenberg Lane became available, she jumped at the chance to launch her dream of owning a bagel shop.

“I’m from the East Coast and there’s no bagels here and I needed them as an East Coast girl,” Erwin said.  “I looked first in Tacoma, but none of the locations worked out.”

She often plays with flavor profiles and gets creative with cream cheese toppings. She created 21 bagel flavors in August alone. The most popular varieties are jalapeno and cheddar and everything bagels, she said.

B’s Bagel shop has purchased the former O’Looney’s Irish Pub on 56th Street.

Customers embraced her bagels as soon as the shop opened, with lines out the door for the first few weeks. Tuesdays are now the busiest days for the business, as it’s closed on Mondays.

She’s confident those customers will follow to the new location.

“Some people were upset about us moving from downtown, but most have been happy for us. It’s only four minutes away, so it’s not really that bad,” Erwin said.