A gas explosion damages Overbrook Park bagel shop, two months after a similar blast

Beloved Overbrook Park kosher bakery New York Bagels was rocked by its second gas explosion in just over two months on Sunday — just hours before its planned grand reopening, according to owner Rayyan Kayyali.

Kayyali and Rabbi Yonah Gross had been inside the bakery at 7555 Haverford Ave. late Saturday night, rolling dough, inspecting ingredients, and batching cream cheese for what Kayyali thought would be the shop’s biggest Mother’s Day yet.

As a kashrus administrator for the Community Kashrus of Greater Philadelphia, Gross sets the timer for the oven to turn on at 5 a.m. for baking, a step that certifies New York Bagels as pas Yisroel kosher, since Kayyali isn’t Jewish.

“I personally went inside the oven to make sure the gas pipe was clean,” Kayyali said. Gross agreed: The oven “seemed to be working as normal.”

Yet sometime after they left and before 5 a.m., Kayyali said, an explosion blew through the front of New York Bagels, knocking out new windows and fresh ceiling panels to reveal electrical wiring. Nearly all of the kitchen’s new appliances were damaged, too, he said.

Kayyali learned of the explosion at 5 a.m. when his baker arrived to find the storefront exposed. Most of its windows were in shards that covered the parking lot.

“He said it looked like a car crash,” Kayyali recalled the baker telling him. “I’m feeling miserable.”

Just before 9 a.m. Sunday, crews from Philadelphia Gas Works and Peco were assessing damage as New York Bagels employees handed out free containers of cream cheese and tuna salad to customers. Only the storefront’s accoutrement fridge and front counter, draped in an Eagles Super Bowl LIX rally towel, were spared.

The explosion appeared related to the “commercial range,” PGW spokesperson Ariel Shore said in an emailed statement. “No injuries and no other service interruptions [were] reported.”

Rachel Cunningham, a spokesperson for the fire department, said firefighters responded to a report of smoke odor just after 5:15 a.m. There was no visible fire, but the storefront was heavily damaged, she said.

The fire department called PGW, which turned off service to the property. Peco crews also responded to the incident at 5:50 a.m. to disconnect electricity, a spokesperson for the utility company said.

Shore, of PGW, referred further questions to the fire department, which is handling the investigation. The fire department had no further information Sunday night.

Jeffrey Goldstone, the landlord with Herbert Yentis & Co, which owns the shopping center where New York Bagels is located, said everything had been in order for Sunday’s planned opening.

“L&I, the fire marshal, and the gas company all gave us the all-clear,” he said.

A spokesperson for L&I did not immediately respond to requests for comment confirming that an inspection had taken place.

This isn’t the first time a gas explosion has damaged New York Bagels, which opened in 1964 and has served kosher Jewish communities in Overbrook Park and Lower Merion for at least 25 years.

On March 3, the shop was heavily damaged by a natural-gas explosion. Kayyali told The Inquirer he was working early that morning when he attempted to light the oven after gas had been flowing in. A shelf in front of the oven had shielded Kayyali from the brunt of the explosion, which blew through the front windows and damaged the floor, walls, ceiling, counter, and equipment.

Kayyali was knocked unconscious. He had a minor concussion and burns to his hands. Still, he said Sunday that the more recent blast was “way worse,” based on the level of damage.

“This time, if I was inside I had literally zero chance of survival,” Kayyali said, while standing next to a pile of glass.

Kayyali spent the last two months renovating the 62-year-old bagel shop and adding safety features to the oven, which was manufactured in 2005 and installed by the previous owner.

» READ MORE: ‘Nothing seemed real’: Inside the first explosion that rocked New York Bagels

Kayyali said he sold his car to cover employees’ wages during the two-month closure. Goldstone, the landlord, estimated that he and Kayyali had spent $200,000 on repairs from the first explosion.

“I’m sick to my stomach,” Goldstone said while surveying damage to the rest of the strip shopping center, just off City Avenue. Both the soon-to-open pharmacy and recently opened Citadel Credit Union next door incurred minor damage, he said.

Goldstone’s family has owned the property since 1963. “Until March 3, I had never heard anything about the oven” or gas being an issue, he said.

Kayyali, 23, bought New York Bagels in 2024 from longtime owner Nick Sammoudi after his brother Fares had worked there for years. The recipes are largely the same, but Kayyali had big plans for the bagel institution, like working on a beverage program.

New York Bagels wasn’t due to open for another week, Kayyali said, but missing Mother’s Day wasn’t an option: “I had a sign prepared that said, ‘We can handle a gas explosion, but we can’t handle leaving mothers upset.’”

Mothers, daughters, and fathers were left verklempt Sunday morning as they chatted with Kayyali, who kept apologizing while handing out tubs of cream cheese.

Sarah Sassler-Cohn, 27, drove from Baltimore to wait in line with her mother for dozens of sesame and cinnamon raisin bagels that she freezes to keep at home. Sassler-Cohn had worked at New York Bagels for six years throughout college and high school. She has yet to find a bagel that tastes as good.

“We’re devastated,” Sassler-Cohn said. “I spent, like, 312 Sundays in there.”

Paul L. Newman of Merion Station felt similarly. When he pulled up to New York Bagels at 7:50 a.m. Sunday — 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled grand reopening — he found the storefront blocked off with yellow tape and the front windows shattered. His usual baker’s dozen would have to wait.

“I feel horrible for these people,” Newman said. “Here are these guys who are immigrants, had a great business, and they’ve been struck not once, but twice, with tragedy.”

Kayyali, however, is seemingly undeterred. He plans to reopen, regardless of how long it takes.

“I’m not going to give up over these explosions,” said Kayyali. “But, gosh, death must have a crush on me.”

» READ MORE: From 2025: How a popular kosher bagel shop became the target of antisemitism allegations in Lower Merion

Inquirer staff writer Michelle Myers contributed to this article.