"When I was growing up, I'd go there with my grandparents for lunch all the time," Max Sussman said about downtown Birmingham when he announced his second Bev's Bagels at 283 Hamilton Row. The word that matters in that sentence is lunch.
In the same late-summer stretch, PopUp Bagels put its signs up at 34400 Woodward Ave., in the former T-Mobile store. It will be the Connecticut chain's first Michigan location. On paper, Birmingham is getting two bagel shops. In practice, the two businesses are aimed at different parts of the day. Bev's is set up for the weekday lunch crowd and the office catering order. PopUp is set up for the bag you carry home. Once you see that, it's easier to plan around both of them.
Hamilton Row Gets a Bagel Diner Built for Noon
Bev's took over a 1,400-square-foot storefront that used to be Marrow on the Go. The Detroit Free Press, in a gallery of 2026 openings, says the shop opened in September. Hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day.
The background explains the menu. Sussman grew up in Huntington Woods. He was a James Beard semifinalist for Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2012, while he was cooking at Roberta's in Brooklyn. He came back to Michigan in 2020, and in 2023 he started Bev's as a pop-up in his home kitchen, named after his grandmother. That pop-up turned into a brick-and-mortar "bagel diner" in Detroit's Core City at Grand River and West Warren. When Eater Detroit covered the Core City opening in May 2025, it pointed to the pizza bialy, the smoked-fish sandwiches, vegan cream cheese, and a diner-style counter. Those are Detroit menu items. Don't assume they're on the Birmingham menu.
The bagels are hand-rolled organic sourdough. They proof overnight in the refrigerator, get boiled, and then finish in the oven, which gives them a crisp outside and a chewy center. The Birmingham-only items are the clearest sign of who the shop expects to feed:
- Veggie-forward open-faced bagel sandwiches with lighter cream cheese and fresh produce, including Michigan heirloom tomatoes
- A chef-driven chopped salad "designed for the midday lunch rush"
- Gluten-free bagels in plain and everything
- Pastries and sweets on weekdays
A chopped salad isn't bagel-shop food. It's downtown lunch food. Catering points the same way. Bev's has said the Birmingham shop will put more weight on its catering business, with corporate events, office lunches, holidays, and family celebrations at the top of the list. Sussman told the Free Press he plans to double weekday production at Birmingham without shrinking the menu or making food ahead. "Weekday" is the word that keeps showing up in his plans. The shop is designed for a Tuesday at 12:15 as much as for a Sunday morning.
Woodward Gets a Bagel Shop With No Sandwiches
PopUp Bagels was founded in 2020 by Adam Goldberg in Westport, Connecticut. It sells hot whole bagels that you tear open and dip into flavored cream cheese "schmears" or butters. It does not make sandwiches. The company's name for this is "Grip, Rip and Dip."
The ordering model follows from the format. According to PopUp's official menu, it works like this:
- Bagels come in bags of 3 or 6.
- A 12-bagel bag comes with two schmears.
- A 30-bagel bag comes with five schmears.
- Pre-orders are sold by the dozen.
PopUp describes small batches, a short menu with schmears that rotate weekly, and lines that move quickly. Its site also advertises the next "drop." The listed weekly flavors were out of date when we checked, so look at the site the week you go.
This is a grab-a-bag business, and it's growing fast. According to Downtown, the brand runs 49 stores in 18 states and wants 100 open by the end of 2027. When it opens in new cities, people line up. On opening day in Charleston this July, customers were in line by 6 a.m. Before the April launch in Georgetown, Washingtonian reported plans for partner giveaways, swag, and a DJ, and the partner said it expected a line.
Birmingham has no opening date for PopUp yet. The Birmingham-Bloomfield Bulletin's October 1 report said the signs were up but nothing had been announced. If Charleston and Georgetown are any guide, the first weekend will be the busiest one.
Which Shop Fits Which Order
Side by side, the two shops line up with different occasions:
| Bev's Bagels | PopUp Bagels | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 283 Hamilton Row | 34400 Woodward Ave. |
| Former tenant | Marrow on the Go | T-Mobile |
| Status as of early October 2026 | Opened in September, per the Free Press | Signs up, no opening date announced |
| What you're buying | Sandwiches, salad, pastries, single bagels | Whole hot bagels by the bag, dipped in schmear |
| Built for | Weekday lunch, office catering, sit-down breakfast | Take-home bags, pre-ordered dozens |
| Hours | 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily | Not yet announced |
| Gluten-free | Plain and everything | Not specified in announcements |
| Ownership | Local chef, second location, Ann Arbor shop in the works | Connecticut chain, first Michigan store |
Some practical uses follow. If you need lunch for a meeting, or something for a family gathering that needs real food and not just a bag of bread, Bev's catering is built for that. If you're hosting a Saturday brunch and want a dozen bagels with a couple of tubs of schmear, PopUp's 12-bagel bag already comes packed that way. If someone in your house avoids gluten, Bev's is the shop that has announced options. And if you want to sit down at 2 p.m., Bev's serves sandwiches until it closes at 3.
The Bagel Map Before This Fall
Birmingham already had a bagel shop. Jersey Bagel Deli & Grill is at 1120 E. Lincoln Street. Just past the city line, Barry Bagels is at 829 W. 14 Mile Road in Clawson, and Einstein Bros. is at Woodward and Cambridge, 27365 Woodward Ave. in Berkley.
What's changing is where the bagels are. Jersey Bagel sits on the east side along Lincoln. Bev's puts a full bagel menu on Hamilton Row, in the walkable core of downtown, where people already wander between shops on a weekend. PopUp is going onto Woodward itself. For anyone who lives within walking distance of downtown, that adds two options to the morning routine. Both sit in storefronts that already had tenants, which matches what we found in Downtown Birmingham's six-address retail shuffle. Downtown keeps filling the spaces it already has with new businesses.
Where Bev's Says It's Headed
It's also worth knowing how each owner sees Birmingham in its plans. Bev's started as a pop-up in a home kitchen, became a Detroit bagel diner, added Birmingham, and has a third location under development in Ann Arbor. For Bev's, Birmingham is the first move outside the city. It's run by a chef who grew up eating lunch here and has added items you can only get at this location. For PopUp, Birmingham is the first of the 50-plus stores on the way to its 2027 goal to sit in Michigan, and the chain's tight menu travels without changes. Because their plans are so different, the two shops end up selling Birmingham different products for different meals.
To catch Bev's for the lunch it was designed around, go before 3 p.m. on any day. Metro Times reported that Bev's posts updates on its website and Instagram. For PopUp, keep an eye on the storefront at 34400 Woodward and the "drop" page on its website. Both openings are part of a busy food year in town, alongside the diner-voted contest in Birmingham Doesn't Have a Best Burger. It Has a Ballot. For more on the city, see our Birmingham neighborhood guide.
A home a short walk from Hamilton Row is easier to show on video when the tour can include the walk to breakfast. If you're wondering what your Birmingham home would sell for, and how a walkable downtown morning would come across in a video tour of it, Moving MI can help. Get a Free Home Valuation & Customized Marketing Plan.
