Alex’s Bagels must find new location

Aug. 18, 2016 | Chris Goudreau
cgoudreau@thereminder.com

Alex and Nina Belyshez, owners of Alex’s Bagel Shop, pose at their shop on Williams Street. The store is required to move due to an expansion at the nearby Big Y. The deadline for the move is Jan. 1, 2017.
Reminder Publications photo by Chris Goudreau

LONGMEADOW – Alex’s Bagels Shop at 786 Williams Street has until Jan. 1, 2017 to find a new home due to a renovation and expansion project at the nearby Big Y, which would utilize the shop space for the project.

Alex Belyshez, owner of Alex’s Bagel Shop, said he first received notice that Big Y, which owns the property, would use his store for its renovation more than three weeks ago.

Alex’s wife Nina noted Big Y first approached the couple about the potential renovation approximately two years ago.

Mathieu D’Amour, vice president of real estate and development for Big Y, told Reminder Publications Big Y informed Belyshez his store would be used for a potential expansion project seven years ago.

“He’s been on a month to month for an awful long time now,” he added. “It’s been a project that’s been on the horizon for almost a decade now to reinvest in this property because of the deficiencies and concerns with the facility itself.”

He continued, “Part of the problem is the age of this building, quite frankly. It’s asbestos laden. So for me to abate the adjacent spaces and for him to cook bagels would be a danger to health of the community … Quite frankly, somebody’s going to get sick and that’s not a good thing and we certainly don’t want that.”     

Prior to Alex taking over the shop on his own, the location was Kimmel’s Bagel Shop, at which Alex worked for 19 years.  

He noted Big Y has provided them with a broker to find a new location to move the store. However, the difficulty would be moving the bagel making equipment to a new home.

“It’s a little tough because we’re a very small bakery,” Alex said. “They usually have a big space. It takes a lot of money for us to take a big space.”

Nina said Jan. 1 would have been the store’s tenth anniversary at the location. She described the deadline to move as a “huge shock.”

“Honestly, we’re trying to stay optimistic, but it’s hard,” she noted. “We don’t know what to say to customers – they’re so worried about us. Believe me, [there’s] nice people here.”

She added once concern for the couple is there aren’t many available commercial spaces in Longmeadow, especially in the center of town.

When asked to respond to negative feedback on social media about the expansion including Alex’s Bagel Shop, D’Amour said, “I’d love to see them continue in town. That’s why we’ve had so much notice, multiple years of notice that we were intending on enhancing and improving on our store. My hope would have been that he would have been motivated to find something. Again, I’m happy to give him assistance to do that. I’d hate to see him leave the town, but I also believe that there is space in town that is not utilized whether it be across the street or the old Huke Lau space … we’re not the only place in town for him to operate his bagel shop. I appreciate the sentiment and the emotional attachment to what’s been a staple in Longmeadow for a long time.”

Nina said although moving the store would be difficult, they are grateful to Big Y for allowing the shop to remain at the location for years.

“We understand, they need to renovate the space,” she added. “Big Y has always been nice to us.”

The couple moved to the United States from Russia in 1988 Nina said. They have three children, two of which were born in America.

More than half a dozen variety of bagels are made from scratch every morning, she noted. They usually get up at 4 a.m. every day to start preparations to make the bagels.

D’Amour said the overall project would entail a roughly 5,000-square-foot expansion, which would encompass the former Brightwood Hardware and Chippy’s Barber Shop locations as well as Alex’s Bagel Shop.

D’Amour said the need for an asbestos abatement precipitated the decision to have the project expand to the bagel shop location.

The project is currently in its design phase and engineers are reviewing the entire building to come up with an idea of how much work is involved and what the right layout for the location would be, he added.

D’Amour said he’s met with town officials at this point and believes approvals necessary for the project would be “predicated on the amount of the work required” based on structural findings of the building.

“We’re waiting to hear back from the engineers to determine. For example, is it necessary to knock down a wall and rebuild it? I don’t know. I’m hoping not from an economic standpoint. We’ll have to work with what we have.”

He added Big Y would likely submit plans to the Planning Board by Jan. 1, 2017.

The project would entail enhanced food service offerings, updates to the overall store, and increased prepared food offerings, he said.

“The reality is that this store is still small by comparison to our conventional markets, East Longmeadow for example, right down the road, is 2,500 square feet larger than this location,” D’Amour said.

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