Blobs of parkas and puffer jackets — with frigid, blue-lipped faces above them — stand idly in single file, shuffling forward on occasion as if in a trance. Passersby gawk at the behavior, wondering what could have throngs of Bostonians trembling outside midwinter. One concerned witness calls out to the crowd: “What are you waiting for?” The horde shivers out of both cold and sheer excitement as they echo, “PopUp Bagels.”
Seaport’s new PopUp Bagels location has drawn a crowd of eager customers, waiting in blisteringly cold winter temperatures in a line that wraps around the block. The effect is felt far and wide: It seems like every other person you pass on the street is swinging a brown PopUp Bagels bag, and bagel-munchers occupy every bench.
The franchise, which has locations in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, opened its newest storefront in Boston’s Seaport Jan. 10. Known for its experimental cream cheese “schmear” flavors including Fruit Loops, vodka pasta and pickle, the business gained extraordinary traction on social media, particularly by food influencers.
Instagram Reels and TikToks showcase tubs of schmears and a creative take on how to eat a bagel: tear, dip, repeat. However, as PopUp Bagels opens shop in Boston and hordes of giddy foodies advance, the question remains: Are they really worth the hype?
Anisha Patel, a third-year behavioral neuroscience major at Northeastern who discovered PopUp Bagels through Instagram, dragged Azaan Muhammad, a fourth-year business administration and psychology combined major and reluctant friend, with her. Patel was dedicated to trying the viral bagels, accepting the possibility of a long line. After their extended wait time outside on a cloudy Boston morning and rigorously rating each bagel and schmear, Patel declared: “It was really good — worth the wait!”
This was a consensus many customers seemed to share — the bagel was fluffy, the schmear was whipped just the right amount and the warm bagel steaming into their frigid faces was a welcome delight. What’s not to love?
However, when asked if they would come again, many were uncertain.
“I feel like I’m living in an Instagram story,” Muhammad said. “It’s a Reel-worthy thing, but I don’t think I could sustain this daily.”
Surrounded by Seaport’s glass buildings in a pavilion decorated with fake white Christmas trees and angular blocks for seating, the atmosphere for visitors was indeed “Instagrammable.” That is, you could practically hear the “cha-ching” radiating off of PopUp Bagels’ storefront — my pocket felt inexplicably lighter as I walked away.
The very concept of PopUp Bagels — customers lining up outside in the morning, ordering inside while workers scrawl on a brown paper bag and leaving with fresh, piping hot bagels — has already existed in Boston. Brick Street Bagels, located in the South End, is structured identically; however, their bagels are $2 cheaper.
Brick Street Bagels churns out steaming bagels the size of a toddler’s head every morning. Their wide variety of bagel flavors, paired with the excellent consistency of the bagel itself — a soft, doughy interior with a crispy exterior — has drawn a loyal customer base.
“I’d go to PopUp [Bagels] once just to say I went there, but honestly, Brick Street [Bagels] is the same thing, just faster, better and cheaper,” said Siena Lickle, a Northeastern second-year health science major and regular at Brick Street Bagels.
Eight dollars for a bagel, no matter how good the bread is, is an outrage to the prospect of a six-dollar bagel twice its size. Moreover, at Brick Street Bagels, the bagels are the main attraction. While it may be outrageous to go to PopUp Bagels and not spring an additional eight dollars for a schmear, at Brick Street Bagels, it’s more common to see people devouring the bagel by its lonesome.
Regardless of whether you’re a schmear fanatic or a solo bagel consumer, one thing is for certain: the people drawn in by the intensive marketing are not so sure they would come back. The line heavily consisted of first-time customers and a younger demographic active on social media.
Shravan Ganta, a second-year computer science major at Northeastern, was making his first PopUp Bagels venture after hearing about the New York location on TikTok.
“It’s got to be a nine out of 10 to make this line worth it,” Ganta said.
While it’s a good bagel paired with a top-tier schmear, it’s not a nine out of 10. There are better bagels in the city for less. Ultimately, its position in an extremely affluent and polished part of Boston, as well as the social media circus, has made PopUp Bagels more of a brand name feeding off first-time customers than a business built off returning regulars. Yes, it’s overrated — but that won’t stop people from lining up and waiting with their arms crossed to determine that for themselves.
