The store, in the City Centre strip mall, was one of 39 to be closed by Manhattan Bagel. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Regular customers bade goodbye Red Bank’s Manhattan Bagel store  as the store fell to a corporate axe Friday.

“Manhattan Bagel has gotten me through a lot of hangovers,” borough resident Aaron Lancaster told redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn as another customer gave an employee a hug.The store in the City Centre shopping mall at Maple Avenue and West Street, was one of 39 “underperforming” shops to be closed down by Tuesday, according to a statement by the owner, Einstein Noah Restaurant Group.

A spokeswoman told Churn via email that the bagel-and-coffee shop opened as an Einstein Brothers’ Bagels in 1996 and converted to a Manhattan Bagel franchise store in 2006. The company took over the store at the start of 2008.

The company declined to say how many workers were affected.

In recent months, the store hosted the River Read Reading Series for poets and other writers.