The Bagel Shop, founder of famed ‘Rainbow Bagel,’ closes for good

Taste the rainbow, no more!

The Bagel Store, made famous for its viral “Rainbow Bagel,” has closed its door for the second – and final — time this past week, according to the shop’s social media.

The closure, highlighted Monday by the Brooklyn Bagel Blog, comes after Scot Rossillo, owner of The Bagel Store and self-proclaimed “World Premier Bagel Artist,” rose to viral fame in 2016 after a Business Insider video highlighted the shop’s sensational, multi-colored bagels.

Though no formal announcement was made, The Bagel Store’s Instagram bio has been updated to read, “THANK YOU ALL FOR LOVING US ALL THESE YEARS DUE TO HEALTH CONCERNS WE WILL BE CLOSED ALWAYS CHOOSE HAPPINESS.”

The store began to attract attention in 2016, nearly two decades after Rossillo began making his “Rainbow Bagel,” which he later trademarked. Since then, The Bagel Store has attracted visitors from far and wide to try the famed bagel, though it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Rossillo.

The shop’s skyrocket to fame slammed business, causing Rossillo to temporarily close his original Bedford location to optimize the store for the heightened traffic.

rainbow bagel at the bagel store — The Bagel Store employee Louis Fernandez prepared fresh Rainbow Bagels at the original Williamsburg shop in 2017. File photo by Stefano Giovannini

Its second location, on Williamsburg’s Metropolitan Avenue, was seized by the state tax department three years later, in July 2019, due to Rossillo owing $900k in unpaid taxes, Eater reported. The bagel guru told the publication at the time he was in the process of negotiating, but would instead reopen on Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue.

The following year, amidst a global pandemic, The Bagel Shop opened at 69 Fifth Ave., where it remained until as recently as April 17, when a post on social media proclaimed the eatery to be open.

Rossillo had also since tried to expand on The Bagel Shop’s viral fame, using rainbow images for the store’s social media avatars, and adding additional fun creations to the menu, such as the “Unicorn Bagel” — a Rainbow Bagel topped with rainbow cream cheese, or cookie dough cream cheese (and, of course, rainbow sprinkles).

As of May 9, The Bagel Store was marked as closed on Yelp and removed from Google Maps.

In a “breaking news” post, Sam Silverman of the Brooklyn Bagel Blog paid tribute to the novelty bite’s time on the borough’s menu.

“Love it or hate it, Scot and the Rainbow Bagel have made an indelible impact on the bagel industry,” Silverman wrote. “We wish him good health and good luck in his next phase of life.”