After 10 years of anticipation, Bodo's Bagels finally opened its location on the Corner yesterday.
"We were expecting a trickle of people when we opened," General Manager John Kokola said. "We got a flood."
Bodo's owner Brian Fox confirmed that more than 1,000 patrons visited the new location in its first day. This is the third Bodo's in existence and the closest one to Grounds.
Third-year College student Liza Taylor said she has been an employee of the Bodo's Preston location since high school.
"I have been bugging them to open this one for so long," Taylor said. "I know my friends have been waiting for it to come because it's more convenient for students."
Fox opened his first Bodo's 16 years ago and the second four years later.
"I had ambition and worked hard," Fox said. "I was driven by being a provider for my family."
Nearly reaching the two year mark that it had taken to open the other locations, Fox said he lost his ambition.His children were grown and educated and his wife "decided she wanted to do other things with her life," Fox said.
Fox and his wife divorced, and he said he found himself in a state of not having a family to work for.
Fox said he put off the project with the intention of going back to it before too long.
Other delays came up every time Fox was ready to start the process again -- aging parents, difficulties at other locations and keeping himself healthy.
Fox said he couldn't abandon the project, so it was just a matter of waiting until he was ready to put the time and effort into creating another business. The community response to Bodo's and the long wait has been mixed. After years, the unopened Bodo's became an institution at the University.
"Even before I came to U.Va. I knew about the Bodo's legend and rumors as to why it hadn't opened up," third-year College student John S. Moran said. "I live in NoVa, but I drove down today because I knew Bodo's was opening.It was a pretty momentous occasion"
"There has been a huge amount of interest in it," Fox said. "I get ribbed, but it's typically good-natured ribbing. I get impatience and incredulity, too."
With the arrival of two grandchildren Fox said his ambition was renewed and Bodo's bagels came into being on the Corner.
"It was worth the wait, but I know recent graduates who are kind of pissed that it didn't open until after they graduated," Moran said.
Fox said that he would estimate that 80 percent of his staff, not including management, will be University students, and the bulk of his customers will be students as well. He said the location is best for pedestrian traffic due to the lack of parking.
Kokola said the restaurant's philosophy will help it maintain itself: low prices, high volume and high quality.
"But there's something else," Fox said. "Good vibes."
Taylor has a different theory for the restaurant's popularity among University students.
"It's a good hangover cure," she said.
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