Wally’s Place for Sale in South Hero 

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• Courtesy
• Matt and Kristen Bartle

The Champlain Islands will be down a café this summer — at least temporarily. After 15 years of operating Wally's Place bagel shop, café and bakery in South Hero, owners Matt and Kristen Bartle will close the biz on Sunday, June 11.

Wally's Place isn't officially listed for sale with a broker, Matt Bartle told Seven Days. But the couple are ready for new owners to "take it and view it from fresh eyes," he said, and he's been fielding inquiries from potential buyers.

"We're really open to a lot of different ideas right now," Bartle said. "When we realized we didn't have enough staffing to get through the summer, we had to put a date on it and say, 'If nothing happens, we're just gonna close the doors.'"

The popular café at 54 Community Lane currently serves breakfast and lunch six days a week, with breads and sweets baked in-house. Wally's New York-style bagels have won the Seven Daysies award for best bagel outside Chittenden County since 2018.

Selling involves a tough decision, Bartle said: The couple could accept "a bunch of money" from a buyer who ends up changing the business completely. Or they could take little to no payoff and "facilitate the next phase of a community space."

"It's a conundrum," he said. "I live here, and I want to come here and drink coffee. But I want to do it on the other side of the counter."

Wally's Place is named for Bartle's grandfather, who retired to South Hero. As a kid, Bartle came to the islands every summer from New Jersey to visit his grandparents. In 2008, he opened the bagel shop as a "tiny little hole-in-the-wall," he said.

The shop remained at its original 1 Ferry Road location until 2016; since 2020, that space has been home to Two Heroes Brewery's pilot taproom. Bartle, who is a partner in Two Heroes, said construction is wrapping up at the brewery's new location at 252 Route 2. He hopes Two Heroes will open a tasting room there in mid-June, with a public house in the future, and he plans to focus on the food offerings there after he closes Wally's Place.