After two delays, PopUp Bagels set to launch Bethesda shop this Friday

Opening marks the Connecticut-based chain's first location in Maryland

By

August 13, 2026 10:44 a.m.

Share

It’s finally happening. PopUp Bagels is confident it will open the doors of its downtown Bethesda shop on Old Georgetown Road on Friday morning, according to a press release from the restaurant.

The launch comes about a week after the chain had to delay its Bethesda opening for the second time. The shop planned to open on July 24. However, the construction timeline changed, and the opening was delayed to Aug. 7. In late July, a representative for the bagel chain told Bethesda Today that the PopUp team encountered additional and unexpected delays and had to push the opening again.

The eatery will be open Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Earlier in the day, the shop will celebrate with a public grand opening event from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., set with hot bagels and “special surprises,” according to the press release.

A limited Bethesda-exclusive cream cheese flavor–Chesapeake Spiced Schmear–will also be available during the grand opening, according to PopUp.

- Advertisement -

“We can’t wait to see neighbors catching up over coffee, families picking up Sunday breakfast, and new guests discovering what makes our bagels so special,” Brian Harrington, founder of Seeded Capital Partners and PopUp Bagels’ regional partner, said in a statement emailed to Bethesda Today in July.

The PopUp Bagels at 7607 Old Georgetown Road, on the ground floor of the Solaire apartment complex, will be the bagel chain’s first in Maryland.

The Connecticut-based chain is known for its whimsical cream cheese flavors and encouraging an alternative way to eat the baked good: ripping off chunks and dipping the pieces into a tub of cream cheese or butter.

The bagel chain offers an assortment of classic bagels, including everything, plain, poppy, salt and sesame, along with traditional cream cheese and butter flavors sold by the tub. There also are “specialty schmears” available for purchase for a limited time. Flavors offered in the past include gingerbread cream cheese, cacio e pepe butter, Kraft Mac & Cream Cheese and maple cinnamon butter.

Sponsored

Introducing The Devlin Estate

Maryland Dog Bite Laws: What Victims Need to Know About Liability and Compensation

Featured Now

According to a sign outside of the Old Georgetown bagel shop, PopUp will have a tangerine-flavored butter spread available.

PopUp Bagels was one of two bagel chains racing to open in downtown Bethesda this summer. Call Your Mother, a shop known for its creative bagel sandwich combinations, returned to Bethesda on Aug. 3 with its new eatery in the Woodmont Triangle neighborhood.

With Popup Bagel’s opening, the downtown Bethesda area will now have a handful of places to purchase bagels within the downtown area, including Bethesda Bagels, Call Your Mother, Breads Unlimited and the gluten-free eatery The Red Bandana Bakery.

Digital Partners

Originally published at Bethesdamagazine