A Welcoming Bagel Shop
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- 4 min read
Hexagon Bagels, with its hand-rolled sourdough bagels and inclusive atmosphere, add to the rich tapestry of North Adams
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By Elise Linscott Gladstone
Photos by Nick Burchard
The space inside Hexagon Bagels is bright, airy, and buzzing with energy. On the
Sunday I visited, its tables were filled with families, college students grabbing bagels and coffee to go, and friends catching up over open-faced sandwiches. While the brick-and-mortar location has been open for less than a year, Hexagon has been years in the making.
Owned by business partners and spouses Patrick Lang and Nick Rigger, the couple
began selling sourdough bagels at farmers markets around the Berkshires in 2023. Lang, who grew up in Great Barrington and moved around the country before returning to the Berkshires, never imagined coming back home to start a business, but says it’s been a great experience.
“The community has really supported us from day one at the farmer's market to
now,” Lang says.
Lang and Rigger met while studying at the University of Minnesota in 2009. The couple opened a farm in Wisconsin on a hexagonally shaped property, which was the inspiration for their original business name—Hexagon Projects and Farm. During the off season, in the early winter months, Rigger and Lang would travel back to the Berkshires to spend time with Lang’s family. It’s a place that always felt like home to them—from the landscape to the people.
When they decided to sell their farm and move to the Berkshires full-time, they
ended up in North Adams by happenstance—they bought a duplex property, renting out one unit and living in the other. Rigger got a job working in arts programming for MCLA and the college’s Gallery 51, which, coincidentally, is next door to where their bagel shop is today.
At the recommendation of a business consultant, Lang and Rigger rented out commercial kitchens and started developing and selling their sourdough bagels at farmers markets in Pittsfield, North Adams, and Williamstown before opening a shop. They sold out at their very first farmers market—a pattern that would continue over the next couple years.
Their success gave them the confidence to open a brick-and-mortar location. When
the former Bailey’s Bakery closed at 55 Main St. in North Adams, it was the perfect chance to build their dream cafe. After leasing the space in May 2025 and spending a few months on renovations to bring in more light and create the environment they wanted, Rigger says the response has been phenomenal.
“Business has far exceeded our expectations,” Rigger says. “Everyone seems to be
visiting us—people from the Catskills, the Valley, Vermont—and it’s such a joy to
be doing this work.”
The cafe is open four days a week, from Thursday to Sunday, and Rigger says some of their regulars stop by every day they’re open. “We’ve always appreciated cafes, or third spaces outside of the home and work,” he says. “There aren't too many of them in the area. We thought, ‘We can do this, we have the entrepreneurial spirit.’ ”
As proud queer business owners, Lang and Rigger also appreciate the open-minded
and supportive environment in the Berkshires. It’s different from where Rigger grew up in Minnesota, where he says it wasn’t safe to be who you were. People yelled discriminatory remarks as Rigger walked into stores, for instance—something that hasn’t happened in the Berkshires, thanks to the changing times and the accepting community. Although it wasn’t intentional, most of the shop’s employees are queer or transgender.
“For such a small city of about 12,000 people and being queer, it’s really important for us to have a space that is welcoming to literally everyone that comes in regardless of who you are, or how you identify,” Rigger says. “We want everyone to be able to come in.”
Hexagon Bagels is the only bagel shop in north county. The closest bagel shops—Bagel & Brew in Lenox and Great Barrington Bagel—are further south. There are shops in nearby Pioneer Valley, notably Tandem Bagels, but none make sourdough bagels except Hexagon. They source their stone-ground flour from Ground Up Grain in Holyoke. All of
Hexagon’s baked goods are naturally leavened, including their sourdough-discard scones in flavors like lemon currant and cinnamon date, which are made from the leftover sourdough after they’ve made the day’s bagels. And everything is made fresh the same day they’re sold.
The result is a truly unique bagel—one that’s chewy, with the classic sour note found in sourdough breads. Their baking schedule rotates daily; when I visited on a Sunday, rosemary salt bagels were on the menu. Mine was topped with salted maple cream cheese at the recommendation of one of the employees. As my husband put it, the result was an odyssey of flavor, starting with the sweetness of the maple in the cream cheese, with the fresh aroma of salt and rosemary lingering after.
Open-faced sandwich options include whitefish, which my husband enjoyed, as
well as lox and schmear. They also offer vegan cream cheese options. Hexagon’s
coffee comes from Speedwell Coffee Roasters in Plymouth—an intentional choice
to offer customers something different, because it’s not found in many area cafes.
For those who need financial help, or those who want to give back, a pay-it-
forward card at the register is available for people to add money to, or to use when
they need help paying for a meal. It’s a new initiative the shop started this winter
that has gained traction. It allows them to help the community in a financially
sustainable way, with the full cost of donating shared among customers who
choose to add to the card. When it runs out, Rigger and Lang will add some money,
too, so it’s always available when needed.
“People who are here want the city to succeed and be strong and successful and
resilient,” Rigger says. “I think our business adds to the rich tapestry that is the
city, and I love that.”
Hexagon Bagels is located at 55 Main St, North Adams. For more information please visit hexagonbagels.com
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