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A popular bagel shop is opening soon in Charlotte, giving locals a first taste as it plans its expansion in the Tar Heel state. PopUp Bagels officially opens on Friday, Oct. 17, at The Bowl at Ballantyne, a brand spokesperson told CharlotteFive in an exclusive interview. It marks the first of 10 locations planned for North Carolina.

The boutique bagel shop offers fresh-baked bagels, including everything, sea salt and poppy seed. Each one is made to order and served “piping hot.”

“We’re not a traditional bagel shop where we’re slicing bagels or serving sandwiches,” Todd Gallinek, co-owner of the Charlotte location, told CharlotteFive. “Instead, the concept is grabbing a bagel, ripping it apart and dipping it into your cream cheese. It’s the best bagel you’ll ever have.” Gallineck will run the new shop alongside business partner Deepen Patel, and the pair hinted at opening more locations in the Charlotte area.

Rotating schmear flavors at bagel shop

At PopUp Bagels, schmear flavors rotate on a weekly basis. Customers can keep it plain or pick from limited-time combinations like caramel apple cream cheese and maple butter. A crowd favorite is the everything bagel with scallion cream cheese, CEO Tory Bartlett said. He described the experience as “a flavor bomb in your mouth.”

“It really feels like you’re walking into a different energy,” Bartlett told CharlotteFive. “We’ve got the music bumping, we’ve got (employees) yelling ‘hot bagels!’ and you’re kind of walking into a bagel party.”

The bagel shop has previously collaborated with brands including Nabisco, Sun-Maid and Grillo’s Pickles to create its unique schmears and butters.

“We do over 100 extra (schmear) flavors each year, so it’s a pretty diverse menu of what we do,” Bartlett added.

PopUp Bagels plans for growth

What began as a passion project in founder Adam Goldberg’s kitchen in 2021 has since grown into a “not famous but known” brand with locations in Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts and New York City, CharlotteFive previously reported.

In January, it teased its plans to set up shop in the Queen City.

“Having spent years visiting Charlotte for the holidays with my family, I am excited to roll out our fresh hot bagels to the Ballantyne community,” Goldberg, the founder of PopUp Bagels, said in a news release.

Charlotte is a “key market” in the brand’s plan to expand its footprint in the Southeast, said Bartlett, who pointed to the the city’s vibrancy and growth in recent years.

PopUp bagels just opened a shop in Tampa, Florida, and recently teased plans to open one in Atlanta, Georgia, by year’s end.

“Being in the restaurant industry, you see a lot of restaurants either with great branding and not a great product or a great product but not great branding,” Patel told CharlotteFive. “But PopUp Bagels … is branded well and the product backs it all up.”

PopUp Bagels Location: 4020 Stream Way, Suite 113, Charlotte, NC (opening soon)