Lox of Bagels, Queensbury since 1988, bagels by the thousands daily

By Zander Frost, Chronicle Staff Writer

Lox of Bagels & Moor — on Main Street in Queensbury just east of Northway Exit 18 — is a three-generation business that make and sells thousands of bagels daily.

Some bagels are sold wholesale, to Glens Falls Hospital, Lake George Steamboat Company, summer camps like Echo Lake, and other venues.

But most are sold in-house. Weekend lines stretch outside the store. The large parking lot is often completely full.

Lena and Mark Posniewski have owned the business since 2002. It was founded in 1988 by Lena’s mother, Gloria Canino, who came up from Long Island.

Gloria said she opened it because “I was going through a divorce and I needed a way to support myself and my children.” Her parents lived in the area.

The family — including Lena’s brothers Scott and Michael Calabrese — worked in bagel shops for years in Long Island.

“Everybody in Long Island said… it won’t work upstate. They don’t know what a bagel is,” Lena said. “And of course, everything comes down to the water.”

But for 35 years, it has worked.

Sold the business, bought it back

It was not always under the family’s ownership. In 1992, Gloria says health issues forced her to sell to Jeff Kelly.

“It was like giving up one of my children,” but she says she sold “because I had Lyme disease and I didn’t know why I was sick.”

The sale ended up only reaffirming the family’s passion for bagels. Lena said it made her brother Michael realize “what he really wanted to do.”

He ran Adirondack Bagel Cafe on Quaker Road for around 10 years.

In 2002, Lena and Mark had the opportunity to get Lox of Bagels back.

“A girlfriend of mine called me up and said, did you realize that your mom’s old store was for sale?” Lena said.

At the time, Mark was a carpenter and Lena worked in dentistry.

“He wasn’t really planning on leaving his profession, and I was looking for something different,” Lena said.

“So I talked to him about it. He said, ‘If you want to try to forge ahead’ — and I did. And then I needed help, and he ended up leaving his job.”

“In the beginning,” says Mark, “I was between both jobs. I was literally working 24/7.” After a few years, he gave the bagel business his total commitment.

Bagel making happens overnight

Five nights a week, Scott Calabrese arrives at midnight to make the bagels. The other two nights, Mark arrives at 10 p.m.

They said they make around 200 dozen bagels daily.

Bagel making require precision, any member of the family or staff will tell you.

“Water is very, very tricky,” Gloria says.

“Even temperature of the water,” Lena adds. “Every season there’s an adjustment, it takes the boys a week or two when the weather changes.”

They make around a dozen types of dough — creating bagels from the classic Everything and Sesame, to Blueberry, Sundried Tomato and Cinnamon Raisin.

Lena said she preps 800 pounds of 16 specialty cream cheeses every week.

“Most people do breakfast sandwiches,” like the bacon, egg and cheese. Lena said. “And of course, the cream cheese bagel.”

Caden’s addition: French toast bagel

The family’s third generation, Lena and Mark’s son, Caden, 15, has worked at Lox of Bagels since age 13 and has already made a big contribution.

In a Middle School business class, he was tasked with suggesting a new product to a company. Caden and his friends suggested a French Toast bagel flavor.

They made it — and it was a success.

“We’ve had it for years now,” Lena says.

Mark and Lena say they aren’t pressuring Caden — nickname K-Pos — into the business — they want him to figure out what’s right for him.

They don’t cut him any breaks, either.

“Respect is earned. You don’t buy respect,” Lena says. “He knows. He was actually almost let go once because I’m like, if you can’t work as hard as these girls, then you don’t belong here,” she laughs.

Lena is quick to credit her staff — who she says are essential to Lox success.

“I have five full timer girls up front, two bakers in the back. And then I have 10 high school girls.”

Lena said some of her friends say, “Oh, you’re so lucky. You’re your own boss. And I said, every customer that walks through that door is my boss.

“Because if the boss is not happy I’ll be fired. I know they’re not coming back.”

Lena says they took their first vacation in four years in April — to the Grand Canyon. She says, “Anybody’s profession — if you’re not committed to it, it’s just not going to work. So that never changes.”

Ultimately, Lena says it’s a labor of love — of the business and of the area.

“Taking time to say good morning, seeing the same people every morning, starting their day,” she says. “For me it was just like having coffee every morning with a bunch of family.”

“My husband will say when you’re ready to retire, where do you want to go? I said, Are you crazy? I don’t ever want to leave here… it’s so beautiful.”

Lox of Bagels is open every day 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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