Bagel shop a ‘ray of sunshine’ for Oceanside

As far as beacons of hope are concerned, a bagel store is not the first thing that comes to mind.

But that’s exactly what 24 Hour Bagel was for Oceanside residents when Hurricane Irene hit Long Island. The managers took their name seriously when considering whether to remain open during what had been billed as the worst storm to hit New York in decades.

“We never close,” said Assistant Manager Mike Dyckoff. “24 Hour Bagel, every day.”

According to Timothy Petryshin, manager of the popular chain of bagel shops, the decision was considered carefully. Many of the employees live in Oceanside, and they made it possible for the store to stay open, despite the fact that the windows and doors had been boarded up in anticipation of the storm.

“We didn’t expect any customers, believe it or not,” Petryshin said. “We didn’t anticipate that people were going to walk through the door. It wasn’t even mandatory for any of our staff to come in.”

He added that while the shop didn’t expect customers, he wanted to stay open for the emergency workers who would be busy both during and after the hurricane.

The few employees who were working were stunned when, soon after high tide on Sunday morning, customers began showing up in droves. “In the beginning of the day it was a little slow, but once 9:30 hit, we [had a line] wrapped inside around the store,” Dyckoff said. “There was no room to sit, there were so many customers.”

The employees were aware of the dangers of remaining open during the storm and were ready to close down if there were any signs of flooding or power loss. “I kind of felt safer in the store than I did in my house,” Petryshin said. “My family was out of our house and I was very happy to be out of it, too. If there was any danger, I would have closed up.”

Though they had tried to sell everything they had on Saturday in case they lost power during the storm, 24 Hour Bagel employees were still able to serve the customers who came in on Sunday. Petryshin said that coffee was in constant demand, with some customers buying eight cups at a time after losing power in their homes.

“We didn’t have the staff to adequately serve the customers, but the guys who were here did their best,” Petryshin said. “A lot of the customers said thank you very much for being open. People were walking in here and it was like a little ray of sunshine. You want to do what you can for the community.”