Barrister’s Bagels is located at 250 E. High Street, but who are they? The owners of Barrister’s Bagels are Tom and Geri Zaccaria (insert all cat and mouse jokes here). They purchased the Barrister’s Bagel business located in Royersford in June of 2019 and quickly opened their second location at 300 E. High Street in Pottstown that July. Unfortunately, they choose to temporarily close both locations in March due to Covid. They took this time to build their online presence and partnered with delivery services in preparation of the new normal–take out only.
They reopened Royersford and quickly recognized their absence in Pottstown.
Due to their customer base and following, they decided to come back to town. Before Covid they were looking to expand, so when the time came to reopen in town, they wanted an independent space. This led them to 250 E. High Street.
Why a bagel shop?
Tom’s background is in financial services and Geri has her MBA in marketing. They were looking to go into business together and chose Barrister’s based on a strong product and the opportunities to grow the business fell within their skill set.
Time to make the bagels!
Tom starts his day at 3:00 AM at the shop to make the bagels fresh each day. They are called New York Style bagels, but what does that mean? A New York Style bagel is chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. This takes several steps. Mix the dough, place in bagel former, allow the dough to rise, all before dropping them into a water kettle. This blanches the bagel and creates the shine and crisp. Then the bagel goes into the oven for final baking. It’s a process, but worth it. If you come in early enough, the bagels will still be warm. Geri handles all their community partnerships, online presence and customer service. She quickly connected with the Pottstown community and knows most of her customers by name. She tends to run the Pottstown store, while Tom covers Royersford. They do all their production in Royersford and deliver to Pottstown. Going forward, they would love to bring their production to Pottstown as well.
Their larger space in town, allows them to expand their menu in both locations. They will be developing a baked goods line that will include muffins, chocolates, and other sweet treats.
What made you Pick Pottstown?
Geri said it was “dumb luck actually. We thought we were going to a farmers’ market to look into pushing some product. This is where we met Chele who shared all the growth and plans for Pottstown with us, and we decided to “test the waters.” They were not looking to open here, but they’re glad they took the risk.
What were you pleasantly surprised with in Pottstown?
“The potential growth and positive changes we saw happening” Geri enjoyed collaborating with the other businesses as well, and hosted Bagel Play Days which were free to the kids in the community. The last one she held, right before Covid, brought close to 100 customers. Wow!
Their hours right now are
Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 7:00 am – 12:00 pm
They plan to add days as the restrictions fade.
No Need to drive to New York for this bagel, it’s right here on High Street.