It’s almost ready: The opening date is in late July 2026.
“I never envisioned this happening; I always was kind of a night owl,” Backlund said. But, he added, his bagel business is “on fire. It just made financial sense.”
“Nobody else had planted a flag here yet,” he said of McKinney Avenue and Pearl Street, “and it checked all the boxes.”
Backlund sees opportunities for group orders for office workers nearby in Uptown.
The shop is named for Backlund’s wife, Abby. He started the company in 2024 for her, because she was missing the bagel shops in Chicago, where she attended art school. Abby’s bagels are fermented for 24 hours, then kettle boiled and baked.
Many customers at the East Dallas shop order a bagel and schmear, though the shop is best known for its sandwiches. The Dallasite is a bagel sandwich with jalapeño cream cheese, bacon, eggs and avocado, and it’s a bestseller. So, too, is Abby’s lox on a bagel.
Backlund is also of the shop’s pastrami, which is brined in the restaurant for 28 days, then smoked. The pastrami can come layered on any build-your-own bagel sandwich, or in a lunch option called The Texan, piled with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, spicy sauce and pickles. It’ll be available at the new Uptown shop as well as at the original on Greenville.
Beyond bagels, Abby’s is a coffee shop serving espresso made with beans from Devoción in Brooklyn, Abby’s favorite.
Backlund prides himself on creating a friendly place for neighbors to start their day.
“Everyone who walks in here at 7 or 8 or 9 in the morning wants to see a smiling face,” he said. “I think that’s one of the things that’s driven our success: People feel good when they walk into Abby’s.”
Abby’s Bagels at 2222 McKinney Ave., Dallas, is expected to open in July 2026. The original Abby’s at 1915 Greenville Ave., Dallas, remains open.