After over 85 years of producing some of Manhattan’s finest bialys, the legendary bagel shop is finally establishing an uptown outpost.
Since 1936, the bakers at Kossar’s Bagels & Bialys have been hard at work feeding the fine people of the Lower East Side. The brand was established over 85 years ago when founders Isadore Mirsky and Morris Kossar established a popular bakery in the Lower East Side to help feed the thousands of Jewish immigrants who were fleeing the discrimination they faced in Poland and Eastern Europe. The immigrants from Bialystok, Poland in particular brought with them a traditional bread known as a “Bialystoker Kuchen”, and before too long the Bialy Boom was born.
In 1953, Morris Kossar bought out his partner and renamed the store “Kossar’s Bialys”, and then in 1960 he moved the bakery to 367 Grand Street, where it has been operating ever since. Made with love and a profound appreciation for the founder’s cultural traditions, Kossar’s has established itself as a staple of New York’s culinary scene and is now the oldest remaining bialy bakery in the United States. Recently though, the historic bakery has begun its first-ever expansion program, and has been steadily making plans to develop multiple locations across Manhattan. Their first-ever expansion recently opened up in the newly developed Hudson Yards neighborhood at 526 West 30th Street, and now the team has just confirmed their intention to open up a third location on the Upper East Side.
Kossar’s newest expansion will see the bakery opening up at 270 West 72nd Street, replacing the greatly beloved Pier 72 Diner. In operation for over 42 years, owner Jimmy Papalambros’s popular diner had become something of an icon among Upper West Side residents, and loyal fans were devastated to learn in 2020 that the diner would be shutting its doors for good. Despite protests from numerous customers, the space has sadly remained vacant since December 2020.
Thankfully though, the neighborhood has finally found a suitable replacement for the iconic Greek diner. While the team has not yet outlined their time table for opening, they have already put up the proper signage and have listed the bakery as “Coming Soon” on their website. For more information on their latest plans for expansion, you can follow Kossar’s on Instagram. Additionally, if you don’t live in the neighborhood but are eager to try out their signature bagels and bialys, you can order them wholesale or for catering through the Kossar’s website.
