The owner of a popular family-owned bagel shop in Maryland said he closed it due to concerns about the coronavirus and his wife's health conditions.
Bagel City has been a Rockville institution for four decades.
Owner George Kavadoy said his wife has ALS and he could risk infecting her with the coronavirus. He said he closed to give her his full-time attention.
“I’m happy at least my wife she’s alive and she’s much better than she was before,” he said.
His daughter worked by his side for more than 20 years, growing up behind the counter.
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“It’s hard to wake up in the morning not going to work, seeing my wonderful employees faces and our usual customers that we would see, some of them seven days a week,” Stephanie Kavadoy.
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Leo Hoch has eaten at Bagel City almost every Sunday for 20 years.
“It also provided a meeting place where I’d meet my friends, and we’d sit around and talk about politics, books or just our lives,” he said.
The family said one of the hardest things is they didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to their customers.
“Perhaps one day we could revisit opening Bagel City when things are safer,” Stephanie Kavadoy said.
