A sign reading “Closed Temporarily” adorns the door of the Buck-I-Mart, a place that was once one of the favorite stops for many Ohio State students.
It seems the store may be up and running again soon with Sammy’s New York Bagels moving in.
While still in the process of putting together a contract both OSU and Sammy’s Bagels find acceptable, the actual switch will not be definite until later this week at the earliest.
Until the lease is signed, it will not be known definitely whether Sammy’s Bagels will be coming to campus.
“Based upon the bids that came in, Sammy’s was selected, but if we can’t reach an agreement, we’ll have to start all over to look for somebody to fill the space,” said Helen DeSantis, assistant vice president for business operations.
“Now the next step is to negotiate a lease,” DeSantis said. “Our internal timetable is to put this on the fast track and try to get it signed as soon as possible. We are hoping to know something for sure this week and have something in place by mid-July. But until you have a lease, you don’t really have anything official, and we don’t want to give out bad or incorrect news.”
Although three other Sammy’s Bagels stores are already operating in Columbus, if Sammy’s Bagels does come to campus, entering the convenience store market will be a relatively new concept for Sammy’s.
In addition to selling fresh baked bagels, the Buck-I-Mart will also be a retail location.
Former regulars to the mart will be glad to know the convenience store will continue to have much of the same merchandise it had in the past.
“At the Buck-I-Mart, unlike our other locations, the bagels wouldn’t be baked on the premises,” said Sam Pullano, owner of the James Road store and founder of Sammy’s Bagels. “They’d be baked off and brought on every day.”
Certain Sammy’s Bagels locations also boast other foods including fresh-made tuna salad, egg salad, turkey and roast beef bagel sandwiches and homemade soups.
Desserts such as cakes and muffins are also made in their commissaries. Sammy’s also offers services such as baking specialized birthday cakes, and have a full-scale catering operation providing box lunches for businesses and other organizations.
Originally opening 10 years ago in Teaneck, N.J., Sammy’s Bagels has between 12 and 15 stores nationwide.
Aside from the three locations in Columbus, other stores in this region include three in New Jersey, one in Baltimore, one in Chicago and five or six in the West Chester area of New York.
“We just opened one store and it did well, and so we opened another and another,” Pullano said. “We were familiar with Columbus, we had friends here and stuff, so we decided to take a shot on this one here on James Road.”
Now with the Columbus stores being some of the most lucrative in the chain, Sammy’s Bagels keeps continuing to branch out across the city.
Between the commissary and the James Road location, Sammy’s is the largest bagel wholesaler in Columbus each day.
Rough estimates are that Sammy’s puts out about 10,000 bagels a day from both locations each morning.
Owner of the North Cassidy store, Isaac Lieber, would also be running the new Buck-I-Mart location if a suitable agreement can be reached with OSU.
“It sounds like a terrific location and a great opportunity for Isaac. I assume that he is going to try to do some catering to the offices on campus, but I don’t know that for sure,” Pullano said. “I know that he’ll be doing the bagels and spreads and muffins, and he’ll have to have Coke products because I think that the rule is that you have to if you’re on campus.”
Although, Sammy’s Bagels will have to compete with other food outlets already on campus, student response to the new establishment has been positive so far.
“I think if they let people know they’re there and advertise, they will do all right,” said Alexis Hollingsworth, a senior in consumer affairs. “There’s plenty of business to split up among stores.”
