The bagel shop and deli at 34 Church Hill Road quietly celebrated its 25th anniversary last month.

No banner hung from the north-facing windows of the popular location, telling people about the milestone at Bagel Delight. It was not even noted on the business’s Facebook page.

It was quietly observed in the heart of proprietor Eunice Laverty, however, who has been the face, voice, heart and soul of the bagel shop and deli since the business opened in November 1995.

Little has changed inside the business at the westernmost location of 34 Church Hill Road. The interior layout is still close to the original. In recent months, large pieces of hard plastic were hung from the ceiling, providing protection between customers and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aside from that, soda machines line the east and southern walls, a large showcase and counter divides the customer orders area from part of the employee work space. On the western side of the counter a wall cabinet filled with metal bins holds the mainstay of the business: the bagels in myriad flavors that are baked and sold every day. Large orange trays below the bins catch sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onions, and other toppings that fall off the bagels during the course of each day.

The ovens, freezer and refrigerator, a grill, and storage space are located through a door dividing the front and back area of the business. Seating is in the front, where a large pane of glass looks out over the parking lot and traffic passing on Church Hill Road. One table and a few chairs can also be found on the sidewalk in front of the business in warmer months.

The recipe for bagels that are dense and slightly chewy on the inside, with a slight crust on the outside, has never changed.

“When you start messing around with something good, you invite trouble,” Laverty said. “As they say: ‘If it works, don’t break it.’”

Most important: Laverty is still there.

Laverty launched her business when she opened a Bagelman franchise 25 years ago. She continues to be in the shop — which is open every day, including abbreviated hours on holidays — 365 days.

While she tends to be there from the time the door opens each morning until the lights are turned off late each afternoon, Laverty is also helped by up to three additional employees each day.

It is fully a family affair. Daughter Kate is in the shop most days, and son Tim helps when needed.

Until his death 3½ years ago, husband Terence N. Laverty was co-proprietor of the popular location.

It will not be surprising to see any of her five grandchildren recruited for help once they reach working age.

Laverty tries to greet every customer upon arrival; most of them are greeted by name. Laverty also knows the regular orders for so many of them, as well as the names of family members and even pets.

In prepandemic times, dozens of students made their way to Bagel Delight each weekday — Hawley and Newtown Middle schools are both within easy walking distance of the business. Similarly, Sunday morning crowds used to stop in following worship services.

Specials are written on a piece of paper and taped to a small Boar’s Head sandwich board-style sign atop a showcase featuring some of the deli’s salads and other items.

A “kindness is free” sticker is currently in front of the register.

Framed photos by a local photographer fill one area of wall space. The bulletin board just inside the main entrance hosts fliers for special events. There are even a few personalized signs, gifts for Laverty from a former parish priest of the town’s Catholic church, just two lots to the east of her business.

Christmas cards are beginning to arrive. They are taped up as soon as they have been opened and read. The afternoon of the interview that provided the basis for this story, in fact, Laverty was taping a card that has just arrived in the mail.

“Look at this,” she said December 7, pointing to a photo of three children. “This is such a classic photo, and this family’s card is always the first to arrive. The day after Thanksgiving, it’s always here.”

The same can be said for Laverty: she is always there.

All Things Delightful

The name change for the business occurred in June 2003, after Laverty and Bagelman parted ways. Laverty said this week the split from Bagelman was “a mutual separation.”

Longtime customer and now close friend Doreen Kelleher is credited with the new name. “Bagel Delight came to me as something that would search well,” the Sandy Hook resident said this week.

That thought process was part of Laverty’s wishes when it was time to rename her business.

“We wanted to keep ‘bagel’ in the name so that if you were looking for us in the phone book, it would show up early,” Laverty said. “I didn’t want to start the name with ‘Church Hill’ because that doesn’t tell you anything about who or what we are.”

Kelleher said she began by adding the word deli to the name, and continued from there.

“‘Deli,’” she explained, “was to emphasize all the other things she offers,” which includes sandwiches of any combination on bread, hard rolls, and wraps in addition to the bagels. Bagel Delight also sells cream cheese (flavored and plain, all mixed within the shop), salads, homemade soup, chips, pastries, candy, and soft drinks.

“‘Delight’ came about because Eunice is delightful,” Kelleher said. “She is so easy to confide in. She nourishes the body and soul.”

When Kelleher’s two children were away at college, she said, the first stop they often made when returning home was 34 Church Hill Road.

Newtown’s Bagel Delight is a standalone business. Laverty knows of at least two additional businesses that share the name.

“There is a Bagel Delight in Canton [Conn.] and one in New Jersey,” she said this week. “We get calls for both places.”

Laverty’s generosity is legendary. Countless events have featured bagels baked up that morning, often donated along with cream cheese. Thank You notes from customers of all ages hang on a wall next to the cash register. “Eunice at Bagel Delight” regularly appears in Thank You letters to the editor for this newspaper.

Customers who stop in toward the end of any business day are often sent off with a few extra bagels in addition to what they have ordered. This is another form of big-heartedness for which she is known, and also ensures Laverty and her staff never serve day-old bagels.

Laverty’s favorite flavor is multigrain, although she also knows that is far from the favorite of her customers.

“Plain is by far the most popular flavor we sell, year-round,” she noted.

As with any business, there has been an occasional misstep. For Bagel Delight it was the chocolate chip bagel.

“People thought of it more as a pastry,” Laverty said. Customers would order one or two at a time. Few ordered by the dozen, she said.

It also wreaked havoc on machinery during the baking process.

“The chocolate just melted,” Laverty said. “It just got all over the machine. It wasn’t a popular flavor, and it wasn’t worth wrecking the machine.”

A few years ago, a television was installed next to the bagel bin, replacing music that was played. Until then, employees often felt like they were within a goldfish bowl, under constant scrutiny.

“Before the days of cell phones, the radio was nice, but we were constantly being watched,” said Laverty, who is often hands-on with assembling orders.

“The TV gives some people something to pay attention to if they aren’t already on their cell phone.”

A Few Surprises

In December 2013, a We Love Eunice Day was organized by customers to surprise and thank Laverty. Following years of being treated to her kindness, and sneaking extra bagels into orders, residents turned the table on Laverty and surprised her with flowers, gifts, and gift certificates.

Comments raving about the bagel maven, collected from a private Facebook post that drew attention to the event, were printed and taped to the walls.

A few years later Laverty was again surprised. In 2018 she was tapped to be the Grand Marshal of that year’s Newtown Labor Day Parade.

Parade committee lineup co-coordinator Melissa Kopcik told The Newtown Bee that year that Laverty “is a generous woman who gives with her whole heart to everyone she comes in contact with, and also is a tremendous supporter of our youth and community.”

The decision, Kopcik added, felt natural for the parade theme that year: “Serving Newtown.”

A black plastic hat with Labor Day Parade Grand Marshal stickers affixed to it — a few of those letters now missing due to time — is among the prized possessions lining shelves near the register. On a wall nearby is a framed photo of Labor Day regular participant “Elvis Presley” serenading Laverty on her big day.

The biggest change in business, she said this week, is the use of computers and the presence of social media. Bagel Delight’s owner has no use for either.

“I don’t even know how to use a computer,” she said, laughing. She smiles and laughs quickly and easily. “I know that sounds archaic, but it’s true.”

Laverty relies on others to get her words and products out, she admitted. Her daughter does most of the Facebook posts for Bagel Delight, and others help with photos and messages.

“I’m so old-school,” Laverty said. “I recognize the need for social media. Word of mouth was old school. We used to rely on that.

“Now you have to have social media,” she added. “But that’s also a form of word of mouth, I think.”

Despite being 72 years old, Laverty has no plans to retire.

“Oh no, not yet,” she responded when asked about the possibility of slowing down. “If the good Lord keeps me on this earth, I will continue.”

For Eunice Laverty, Bagel Delight is more than her business. It is also the place she regularly connects with people. She has made too many friends over the years to stop seeing them now, Laverty said.

“I would miss them terribly. I’m not going anywhere.”