A mother-daughter bagel shop named for the fictional city in The Wizard of Oz has quietly become one of East Atlanta's most talked-about breakfast stops, blending old-school New York bagel craft with a whimsical theme born from a career change a decade in the making. Emerald City Bagels started as a hobby for Deanna and Jackie Halcrow before growing into a brick-and-mortar shop in East Atlanta Village and a second, busier outpost along the Atlanta BeltLine near Krog Street.
Deanna Halcrow told CBS News Atlanta that she and her daughter Jackie had been unhappy in their jobs for ten years and wanted a change, which led them to leave finance and retail work behind and enter the bagel business instead. The pair started out selling bagels door to door before eventually opening their first storefront. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that first shop opened on Glenwood Avenue in East Atlanta Village in 2018. The business got its start at the Piedmont Park Green Market in 2016.
From Sidewalk Hustle to a Grease-Trap Delay
Getting that first physical location open wasn't simple. Per Craft to Crumb, the Halcrows faced an 18-month build-out delay in East Atlanta because of an improper in-ground grease trap, eventually equipping the bakery with a 45-gallon gas kettle and rotating rack ovens built for the long-fermented, kettle-boiled recipe the shop is known for. The name itself comes from Deanna Halcrow's favorite movie — she told CBS News Atlanta that Emerald City is named after the fictional city in The Wizard of Oz.
That theming extends beyond the name. The Halcrows, who are Long Island natives, modeled the shop's retro aesthetic — including staff dress codes of crisp white jackets, ties, and paper hats — after historic Lower Manhattan appetizing delis such as Russ & Daughters, according to Atlanta Magazine. Customers have noticed. Matthew Tyler said the shop's old-style atmosphere stood out to him, while Favor Oladeji said she and others saw the shop while walking by and wanted to try it, per the CBS News Atlanta report.
A Busier Second Shop and an Automat on the Sidewalk
Emerald City Bagels opened a location on the BeltLine near Krog Street after its East Atlanta shop took off. The BeltLine outpost was open by July 2024. In March 2025, the shop went a step further and installed a Spanish-built automat vending machine outside its BeltLine storefront, dispensing hot bagel sandwiches like bacon-egg-and-cheeses to grab-and-go walk-up customers, according to Rough Draft Atlanta.
The menu at both locations includes traditional bagels and cream cheeses made in-house, along with seasonal cream cheeses and drinks that rotate with the calendar. Jackie Halcrow said the shop's Halloween menu includes a dirt cream cheese based on the classic dirt-and-worms children's dessert, a playful nod that fits the shop's whimsical identity. Emerald City Bagels is locally owned and open daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Bagel Battle Breaks Out Along the BeltLine
The shop's BeltLine success hasn't gone unnoticed by competitors. A high-profile bagel battle emerged along the Eastside BeltLine in February when national viral chain PopUp Bagels opened a storefront just a few hundred feet away from Emerald City, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Direct head-to-head competition between the two was possible largely because of a real estate quirk: the businesses lease space from different landlords, which made standard non-compete lease protections inapplicable across property lines, Atlanta Magazine reports.
Beyond its two retail counters, Emerald City Bagels maintains a wholesale operation supplying fresh bagels to more than 20 local Atlanta restaurants and coffee shops, according to the same Atlanta Magazine report. The shop's reputation has also traveled beyond metro Atlanta — at the 2025 BagelFest event, Emerald City Bagels made a name for itself with New Yorkers, per Tasting Table.
Part of a Bigger Bagel Boom
Emerald City's rise fits into a broader shift underway across metro Atlanta's breakfast scene. The region's bagel scene has seen growth, including Jeff's Bagel Run opening a second metro Atlanta shop in Forsyth County, as Hoodline has previously reported. For Emerald City, that boom has meant both opportunity and new competition arriving right on its own BeltLine doorstep.
