The empty Roller’s Express-O in Chestnut Hill finally has a trendy new tenant: Kismet Bagels. After almost eight years of sitting empty on the corner of Germantown Avenue and Gravers Lane, a full-service luncheonette will be moving in come June. 

Kismet Bagels, which grew out of a quarantine hobby of wife-and-husband duo Alex and Jacob Cohen, recently announced the expansion to Chestnut Hill along with three other new locations.

A hobby turned business

The Covid pandemic made plenty of people amateur bakers, but not many can say they made a career out of this hobby. The Cohens are an exception. With nothing to do except spend time at home during the quarantine, the couple started making bagels in April 2020. Alex wanted to help hospital employees during this time of need, so the pair decided to post on their neighborhood Facebook page about giving the bagels to healthcare workers. The responses they received changed their lives.

The bagels caught the attention of hungry neighbors, who offered to buy them in exchange for the Cohens donating the money. After receiving plenty of preorders from the Facebook post, the couple was offered several pop-ups in Philadelphia neighborhoods such as Fishtown and Northern Liberties. Craig LaBan, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s food critic, visited the Cohens’ home to write about their bagels and before the couple knew it, they were on their way to even more success.

After collaborating with Philadelphia chefs and spreading to wholesale stores, the Cohens opened their first brick-and-mortar location in April 2022 in Fishtown. Locations in Rittenhouse Square, Reading Terminal Market, and Lower Merion soon followed. 

Making Chestnut Hill home

Choosing Chestnut Hill as a new location for Kismet Bagels was an easy decision for the Cohens. They had previously been vendors at a farmers market in the neighborhood, but it was on and off. This lack of consistency made them focus on other areas, but locals did not forget.

“I’m not exaggerating when I say, to this day, for three years a few times a month, someone reaches out, “Can you please open a shop in Chestnut Hill?” Jacob said. “As we were looking in the fall of 2024, thinking about where we want to open next, Chestnut Hill was one of the locations that was very high on our list.”

While having conversations about Chestnut Hill, the Cohens began hearing about Paul Roller, a restauranteur and the owner of the building that used to house Roller’s Express-O. Jacob’s father and aunt used to work for Roller at Frog and the Commissary, but Jacob had never met him.

They visited Roller’s Express-O and peered inside the window. They loved what they saw.

“That’s such our style in there, and it’s in incredible shape,” Jacob recalls. “So we said, ‘We got to talk to Paul.’ And everybody kept saying, ‘You’re not going to get to Paul. It’s impossible to get to Paul.’ Well, when we want something, we get it. Two hours later, we were on the phone with Paul.”

The duo instantly hit it off with Roller, who promised that he wasn’t talking to anyone else about the space. This month, they signed the lease. Anne McNiff, executive director of the Chestnut Hill Community Association, says it is a positive development to have the building filled.

“Not only is it exciting that a bagel shop is going in, but it’s good to see an empty building have a vibrant retail presence,” McNiff said.

A bright future

According to the Cohens, the work needed to move into Roller’s former space is minimal because it was left in good shape. One of the main tasks will be painting and adding a Kismet touch to the shop by using the company’s color scheme – pink and blue. 

Once the Chestnut Hill location is up and running, the luncheonette-style business will not only sell bagels. There will also be brioche donuts with various cream fillings, a full espresso selection, cream cheese spreads, patty melts, grilled cheese, chicken fingers, latkes, and fries. Baking will be done on the premises and catering for events and parties will also be an option.

In addition to Roller’s helpfulness, the Cohens say that Anne McNally, owner of McNally’s Tavern, was a good sounding board. Ann Nevel, retail associate for the Chestnut Hill Business District, has also been supportive of their expansion to Chestnut Hill. Nevel herself says that Kismet Bagels is an appropriate business to take over the space.

“[Paul Roller] was a really important figure in the Philadelphia restaurant renaissance in the 1970s…so now it’s fitting that he’s turning that space over to members of a new generation of restaurant owners,” Nevel says. “We’re so happy to have Kismet Bagels join our existing and growing selection of food and drink businesses in Chestnut Hill.”

The Cohens share Nevel's excitement.

“We’re excited beyond belief,” Jacob said. “I’ve been wanting to be in Chestnut Hill for three years. I have a lot of faith in that neighborhood and I think there’s a lot of room for it to grow.”