A decade-long bagel obsession that started in a Brooklyn transplant's West Philadelphia kitchen has turned into a two-storefront operation on Baltimore Avenue. Cleo Bagels, the hand-rolled bagel shop that opened at 5013 Baltimore Avenue in September 2023, now has a sibling business next door: Little Bean, a coffee shop with seating, specialty drinks, and pastries that opened in February 2026.
Alex Malamy started making bagels at home back in 2016 because, as he put it, West Philly was missing a bagel shop he wanted in his weekly routine, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I started making bagels from home back in 2016,” he said. By the following year he was baking semi-regularly under the name Dodo Bagels, and by 2019 he was selling out pop-ups at the Clark Park Farmers' Market and Lil' Pop Shop, pairing classic hand-rolled bagels with inventive sandwiches.
From Pop-Up to Permanent Storefront
Malamy signed the lease on the Baltimore Avenue space in 2021 and spent two years renovating it, according to Technical.ly. The shop finally opened to the public at 9 a.m. on Saturday, September 9, 2023, in Cedar Park, relaunched under a new name: Cleo Bagels, after the couple's dog. Cleo Bagels later appeared among the city's best-bagel options in PHILADELPHIA.Today.
Among the standouts on the menu is a ramen-inspired sandwich that is now the store's best seller, Malamy said, per the Technical.ly report. But success came with a catch: the bagel shop was so cramped it didn't have room for indoor seating or a behind-the-counter espresso machine, the Inquirer reported. Customers kept asking for more coffee drinks, and that demand, paired with the lack of space, set the stage for what came next.
Little Bean Fills the Gap Next Door
Malamy and his partner Ilana Silber opened Little Bean at 5015 Baltimore Avenue, officially debuting in mid-February 2026 in a spot that had been home to art gallery Ceramic Concepts, the Inquirer reported. The new cafe seats 18 people indoors, with a mix of counter seating, two-top tables, and a window bench — the kind of space Cleo Bagels never had. Little Bean's opening received support from the city's Storefront Improvement grant program, according to the same Technical.ly report.
Little Bean serves pastries and specialty drinks.
A Gathering Spot, Not a Growth Play
The extra square footage has turned into more than a place to sit with a latte. The new space allowed more seating and opportunities to host dog adoption events, fundraisers, and community chess nights, according to the same Technical.ly account of the shop's growth. Silber has said the couple wants both shops to be welcoming gathering places where neighbors connect and build relationships, per PHILADELPHIA.Today.
Malamy has said he prioritizes caring for customers and leading generously, and that philosophy extends to how he thinks about the business's footprint. “These are the two spaces that we are committed to, and we just want to continue to develop and nurture and hopefully maintain for a long time these two spaces,” he said, according to the Technical.ly report. Rather than chasing rapid expansion, Malamy is focused on nurturing both storefronts and keeping the business rooted in West Philadelphia, now that Cleo Bagels and Little Bean share a single block of Baltimore Avenue.
