Lox Stock and Bagel has become a Berkeley High School essential, with a convenient location adjacent to the Downtown Berkeley YMCA, you can almost always find students at Lox. Whether it be before school starts, during lunch, or even on the weekends, students continue to back. Lox offers a variety of food – with bagels, waffles, coffee, smoothies, and more, making it evident as to why it is a popular destination for BHS students.
Lox was founded in 1974, opened and built by owner Frank Karma. It was popular for its Jewish cuisine, and still continues this legacy with their bagel sales, a popular Jewish bread. They also served “Jewish soups,” according to current store owner Joseph Kim. 17 years after its opening, Lox was sold to Kim’s brother and was later passed down to Kim in 2001.
Kim was born in Korea, and moved to the United States in the 90’s to live with his family. He began work in America as an motor mechanic, but in 2001 bought Lox Stock and Bagel from his brother, continuing the family business. Ever since, Kim has worked at the register taking orders from customers. When asked how he felt about his cafe, Kim said “I'm proud. A lot of places, they open and close. But we've been here so long—for more than 30 years.”
Yumi Park is a new worker at Lox, having only started two months ago.
“There are many students … most of our profit, 50 percent or 40 percent, is from (BHS) students.”
Every day at lunch, mobs of BHS students crowd Lox, often creating a line that stretches out the door. This sight clearly makes it apparent why most of their customers are BHS students.
“Sometimes it's too crowded. We're not watching out for all the stuff here, they're just taking without paying, and they run away,” said Park.
Theft is a big issue in Downtown Berkeley for businesses. Many stores include theft prevention, and some, like Target, even have incognito security personnel. The Walgreens on Shattuck and Allston was recently forced to close due to the overwhelming amount of theft, but according to Kim, the theft issue at Lox has improved significantly over the past 5 years.
Additionally, Lox Stock and Bagel were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During the pandemic, we (had) to close for a few months… that was a difficult time,” said Kim.
Many businesses were forced to close down during the pandemic—and for small businesses like Lox, this greatly impacted their revenue and store as a whole. Following the closing, Lox had to take away their once popular salad bar due to possible contamination.
“We used to have a salad bar and sandwich bar. After the pandemic, we don't do that because, you know, people don't like to touch the food (when) other people touch the food.” said Kim. Not only completely shutting off revenue for a few months, but also having to permanently remove one of their income sources, was rough for Lox and created obstacles for them that they had to withstand as a business.
3 of the 4 workers at Lox Stock are Korean – when asked about the differences between Korean and American cafes, Park said “Korean cafes are really fancy and expensive.” In Korea, most cafes are kiosque operated, and have more expensive menus. While discussing his life in Korea, Kim said, “In South Korea, (there are) … more restaurants, so (there is) more competition” However, in downtown Berkeley, there are numerous cafes, but Lox is the one nearest to BHS.
As stated before, Lox is very popular among students.
“I go to Lox more than other cafes because it’s really close to the school and they also have affordable things … for students,” said Lila Dooley, an Academic Choice sophomore.
Lox has many selling points, one of them being their affordability.
“I give them good service and then good food for (a) low price. So, yeah, I want them to come more.” said Kim.
Lox bagels are only $2.50, and they offer an assortment of other foods at reasonable prices. With this wide range of foods and appetizers paired with the ideal location, it’s impossible to not go to Lox Stock and Bagel – a cafe perfect for BHS students.