WOOD RIVER - C&B Boiled Bagels is making steady progress on the interior of its future location in downtown Wood River, which is slated to open later this spring on April 1. The shop will bring New York-style bagels, Schmears, and bagel sandwiches to Wood River and contribute to the city’s downtown revitalization.

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Matt Herren, co-owner and co-founder of C&B with his wife Amy, said several improvements have already been made to the interior so far, and they’re currently waiting on parts to renovate the storefront.

“We’ve put in all-new electric and plumbing service, new HVAC service, put in a new roof, framed out the service area, employee bathroom, and the floors are done,” Herren said. “We are just waiting on a new storefront - so all-new glass in the storefront, new front doors. As soon as those go in and as soon as Ameren hooks up our electric service, we’re moving forward.”

Herren said C&B will be a “traditional New York bagel shop” with over a dozen different types of traditional boiled bagels, including both year-round and seasonal bagels, 17 different types of cream cheese, bagel breakfast sandwiches, and more.

He said once the shop is open, customers will be able to walk inside and order “everything you’d expect from a New York bagel shop,” but they’ll need to take it to-go; there won’t be inside seating, as the shop will be primarily designed to supply local coffee shops and restaurants with wholesale quantities of bagels.

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He added that C&B is not only bringing about the renovation of a historic building in Wood River, but also contributing to the town’s overall downtown revitalization efforts in addition to his and Amy’s other business, 1929 Pizza & Wine.

“For us, it’s not just restoring an old building - it’s bringing back the significance of the downtown in general,” he said. “For our 1929 Pizza & Wine business, we very specifically took the worst building in all of Wood River, and we did that project first so we could show other entrepreneurs, other investors, that if you start with the worst building and make it something that people find to be an asset in their community - and you do it for right reasons - you can attract all kinds of talent,” Herren said.

He added that both C&B and 1929 are “living wage accredited,” meaning everyone who works for them earns a living wage.

“Everybody that works for us - be it a dishwasher, a server, a floor sweeper - everybody starts at a living wage, and then we tip share across the board,” he said. “Our belief is that if you can build a strong middle class in a community that has been left behind, you give those people the opportunities to save money, to buy these beautiful homes that are just blocks away from our downtown that are still totally affordable. You give these people the opportunity to grow as people and follow their dreams.”

C&B Boiled Bagels will open at 62 E. Ferguson Avenue in Wood River on April 1. For more information and updates on C&B Boiled Bagels, visit their Facebook and Instagram pages or their website at cbboiledbagels.com.

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