From schmattes to schmears in the Garment District.<\/p>\n
NYC and bagels go hand in hand. And while doughy shops are churning out shiny crust and chewy bites\u00a0on practically every corner, there is one short, heavily trafficked Midtown stretch that has become one of the Big Apple\u2019s most unexpected bagel battlegrounds.<\/p>\n
On West 35th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, three major contenders, Best Bagel & Coffee, Liberty Bagels and Apollo Bagels, are all jockeying for doughy supremacy within steps of one another.<\/p>\n
This little pocket, which is the only area in Manhattan with this many competing bagel shops, according to data from mapping and analytics firm Live XYZ, sits in the heart of what The Post previously dubbed 42BELOW<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a stretch between West 30th and 42nd streets and Sixth and Eighth Avenues, that\u2019s recently boomed with shopping, lodging, constant foot traffic \u2014 and now lines of people, locals and tourists alike, stretch down the block, making this bagel competition even more intense than shop owners could ever have predicted.<\/p>\n Hordes of people lined up for Apollo bagels in Midtown on a sleepy Saturday morning. Stefano Giovannini for NYPost<\/p>\n The crowds were just as bad the same morning next door at Best Bagel & Coffee. Stefano Giovannini for NYPost<\/p>\n Best Bagel & Coffee has held down 225 W. 35th St. since 2015. Liberty Bagels opened at 260 W. 35th in 2018 with a recently opened second location just around the corner at 462 7th Avenue. And newcomer Apollo planted its seventh location right between the two kingpins at 224 W. 35th earlier this year.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing there in [the] morning, you can tell that more people are on 35th Street because they are looking for their favorite bagel,\u201d Ryan Daly of the Garment District Alliance told The Post. <\/p>\n It\u2019s no surprise that this neighborhood is a feeding frenzy \u2014 the Garment District pulls in<\/a> more than 3.5 million hotel guests a year, with Penn Station<\/a> and Port Authority Bus Terminal spitting a combined 870,000 hungry tourists and commuters into the area daily.<\/p>\n A group of friends enjoying their doughy bites from Liberty Bagels on a Saturday morning. Stefano Giovannini for NYPost<\/p>\n Best and Liberty had long been \u201cbusy and bustling,\u201d Daly said, but once Best landed on notable \u201cbest-bagels across NYC\u201d lists, \u201cthe energy has definitely picked up in there.\u201d<\/p>\n Sam Nektalov, owner of Rush Passport NYC, a 15-year fixture on the block, has had a front-row seat to the transformation and bagel competition.<\/p>\n Best was once the only kid on the block, before Liberty\u2019s West 35th Street outpost changed the rhythm fast, Nektalov said, with lines curling out the door almost immediately, forcing the shop to keep a staffer outside managing walk-in traffic and delivery drivers.<\/p>\n Crowds of hungry customers waiting for their bagel orders at Liberty. Stefano Giovannini for NYPost<\/p>\n As more bagel players arrived, so did the clientele. \u201cThe crowd has been a mixture of everyone,\u201d Nektalov told The Post. \u201cAs the other two stores opened up \u2026 the block has turned into a tourist trap. I do not know where they are advertising, but it seems like this is one of the places people need to visit when they come to NY, just like Katz\u2019s Deli.\u201d<\/p>\n Victor Mejia, one of Liberty\u2019s co-owners, sees this chaos as confirmation that the neighborhood has become a true destination. <\/p>\n The lines at Best Bagel & Coffee lasted for hours. Stefano Giovannini for NYPost<\/p>\n Stefano Giovannini for NYPost<\/p>\n