In April 2023, Bruegger's Bagels closed its shop at 818 N. Quincy Street with little warning. It had been in Ballston since 1986, and ARLnow reported that the shop thanked customers for their years of business on its way out. For the next three years, there was no bagel shop on that part of Wilson Boulevard.
That changed in July 2026. Call Your Mother opened at 4000 Wilson Blvd in early July, and Bagel Uprising opened at 901 N. Glebe Road later that month. PopUp Bagels then set a grand opening for Friday, Nov. 6, at 4300 Wilson Blvd, which puts it between the other two. ARLnow called it "something of a bagel renaissance."
The coverage calls them competitors, but the three sell different things. One is a sandwich deli, one is a classic bagel counter, and one sells bagels only by the bag. Which one you pick comes down to what kind of morning you're having.
Call Your Mother sells the sandwich
Call Your Mother started at D.C. farmers markets under co-founders Chef Daniela Moreira and Andrew Dana. They opened their flagship in Park View in fall 2018. The Ballston shop is in a former Starbucks at 4000 Wilson Blvd, close to Ballston Quarter and the Metro. It has inside seating and takes online orders for pickup.
It runs as a deli. The menu has breakfast and lunch sandwiches, coffee, pastries and sweets, and the named sandwiches are the main draw: Bacon Sun City, Royal Palm and Jetski. The fall menu adds a Meatball Bagel and Cinnamon Crunch Toast. On opening day, ARLnow reported a line out the door through the morning and lunch rush, with Bacon Sun City and Royal Palm getting the attention.
Of the three, it opens earliest. The posted hours are 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays and 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends. If you want to sit down with a full sandwich before a 7 a.m. train, this is the one that fits.
Bagel Uprising sells the bagel, by the piece or the dozen
A few blocks north, Bagel Uprising takes a more traditional approach. The business is veteran-owned. Chad Breckinridge started out making bagels for farmers markets and pop-ups before opening the original shop in Del Ray, and Justin Silverman is his co-owner. The Ballston shop is at 901 N. Glebe Road, and you enter from the corner of Fairfax Drive and N. Vermont Street.
ARLnow's opening report describes small-batch bagels sold one at a time, with schmears, breakfast sandwiches and lunch sandwiches. At the original Del Ray shop, the everything bagel is the top seller. It covers the middle ground. You can get a sandwich, but you can also pick up a single bagel with cream cheese, or a half-dozen or baker's dozen for the office. ARLnow reported hours of 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily when it opened. You can order ahead on the Bagel Uprising website, which uses Square. The company says ordering there avoids third-party fees and markups.
The plan was to open in spring. In March, ARLnow reported a target of May, and the co-owner said the Ballston shop would have seating. It opened on a Tuesday in late July instead. By mid-September it had won ARLnow's 2026 Readers' Choice poll for best new restaurant in Arlington, finishing first with 194 votes, or 26% of the total. That poll covered every new restaurant in the county, not just bagel shops.
PopUp Bagels sells the bag, and only the bag
PopUp Bagels drops most of what the other two offer. The Connecticut-based chain already has locations in Georgetown and Bethesda. It sells whole, fresh bagels only by the bag, starting at $15 for three bagels and a tub of cream cheese or butter, and the flavors rotate weekly. The chain calls its style "rip and dip": you tear off a piece of bagel and dip it into the tub of schmear instead of spreading it.
ARLnow reported a sign on the storefront door at 4300 Wilson Blvd that reads "Bagels. Not sandwiches." The bags are made to be carried out and shared.
The grand opening was scheduled for Nov. 6 from 7 to 11 a.m. The company promised "special surprises" and a limited-time Cafe Salted Caramel Cider Doughnut Schmear made with Good Company Doughnuts. A PopUp spokesperson told ARLnow the brand has "made waves in the DMV area with Georgetown and Bethesda locations."
Which one fits your morning
Put the three formats next to each other and the choice depends mostly on what the bagels are for:
- A sit-down breakfast or lunch, early. Call Your Mother at 4000 Wilson Blvd opens at 6:30 a.m. every day, has inside seating, and builds its menu around named sandwiches like Bacon Sun City and Royal Palm.
- One bagel for you, or a dozen for a meeting. Bagel Uprising at 901 N. Glebe Road sells bagels one at a time, by the half-dozen or by the baker's dozen. You can pick up a website order at the Fairfax Drive and N. Vermont Street corner.
- Something to bring to a gathering. PopUp Bagels at 4300 Wilson Blvd sells three-bagel bags with a tub of schmear, in flavors that change weekly, and it doesn't make sandwiches.
Bruegger's covered all three of those needs from one storefront on N. Quincy Street. Its replacements split them up and spread them along about half a mile of the Wilson Boulevard and Glebe Road corridor. A neighbor who buys a dozen at Bagel Uprising on Saturday and a sandwich at Call Your Mother on a weekday morning is running two different errands.
More on the same blocks this season
The new bagel shops aren't the only new storefronts here this fall. In September, Arlington Economic Development, the Ballston BID and Ballston Quarter announced NEXT, a retail incubator for new entrepreneurs that shares a storefront in Ballston. ARLnow reported that it was set to launch in November.
On the calendar, the Ballston Holiday Market is Friday, Dec. 11, from 3 to 7 p.m. at Welburn Square, 909 N. Taylor St. Welburn Square is a short walk from all three bagel shops. If you're hosting family in December, a bag from PopUp or a baker's dozen from Bagel Uprising can cover breakfast, and the market can cover an afternoon.
If you're comparing Ballston with the other Metro stops on the Orange and Silver lines, our guide to Ballston, Clarendon and Rosslyn breaks down each area by daily routine. The Arlington neighborhood page covers the rest of the county.
At Beltran & Associates Realty, we follow which storefronts open, change hands or sit empty along Wilson Boulevard, because that affects how a block feels to live on. If you own near Ballston and want to know how that kind of walkable convenience shows up when you sell or lease, talk with a local broker today.
