New bagel shop opens in Rountree neighborhood

The last six months have been a whirlwind for the owners of a new made-from-scratch bagel shop near the intersection of Pickwick Avenue and Cherry Street.

Lora and Joe Still welcomed a newborn daughter in December, decided to close Skully’s Ramen in January and spent two months preparing to open Big Baby Bagels in the same location at 1427 E. Cherry St., which shares a building with The Royal.

“We, like insane people, decided to do it at the same time,” Joe Still said.

For the husband-and-wife team, the milestones are intertwined. They were already in the space, and after running the ramen spot for nearly 10 years, which started in a food truck, they were looking to fill a niche in the local food scene.

They also wanted to have more time with their daughter, Lucy.

“When we were doing Skully’s, me and Lora were both working tons, just being open as much as we were – we probably could have been open more – but it was so small and just operating a very thin margin,” he said. “The goal here is to get off earlier, provide bagels for the community.”

The name Big Baby Bagels, also known as BB Bagels on Facebook and Instagram, was inspired by their daughter. Their food service business, which has taken a few forms, was registered in 2016 with the Missouri Secretary of State as Oomami LLC, according to past reporting.

“It’s just a goofy thing. Whenever Lora was pregnant, we’d go get sonograms and they kept saying that the baby was really big,” he said, noting they found that funny. “She wasn’t really that big, she was almost 9 pounds, so on the largish size.”

Joe Still said in coming up with a new concept, the couple decided the roughly 500-square-foot space – with an occupancy of 22 – was better suited to a bagel shop. They lease the space for $1,600 a month from Pickwick and Cherry LLC and have two full-time and two part-time employees.

For the new venture, the Stills partnered with Corey Milam and Mike Stevens and spent an estimated $45,000 to add appliances and remodel.

“We had the building already, which was a huge help, and we owned all the equipment,” he said. “Startup was basically buying a big convection oven. We have a big boiler for the bagels and a mixer. We had all of the coolers.”

Despite working in restaurants for years, there was a learning curve to making bagels. He grew up loving bagels and wants them to come out just right.

“I have eaten a lot of bagels. Most of my family is on the East Coast, and I grew up in southern Maryland but until doing this, I never made bagels,” he said. “We’ve been baking bagels pretty much every day for the past four months.”

Inside the shop, there are counters and tall chairs plus a counter with a bagel display case. At any given time, the Stills plan to offer up to nine bagel flavors including asiago, cinnamon crunch, dark chocolate chip, everything, plain, poblano cheddar, sesame and rosemary salt.

“We’re going to work on having a rotating special bagel in the ninth spot,” he said.

Eventually, the Stills want to add breakfast sandwiches and offer catering for businesses, churches and special events.

The first day for the bagel shop was April 7, and it is currently open Wednesday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., or whenever the bagels are sold out.

Joe Still said April 23, after selling out by 9 a.m. on multiple days, the shop was doubling its daily bagel production to 450.

A grand opening is expected in May, but no date has been finalized.