Students will no longer have to travel all the way out to Garners Ferry Road in order to snag a bread bowl or cinnamon crunch bagel.
A Panera Bread restaurant is set to open in the Vista area some time early spring to mid-spring, according to Bo Gdovin, the operating and franchise partner of Panera for the Southeast region.
The new restaurant will be located in the former Bluestein’s building on the corner of Gervais and Park streets. Although the Panera will be located in a historic district, the actual building was created in the '50s. According to Amy Moore, a member of the City of Columbia’s Planning and Historic Preservation Division, the company will have the ability to make interior and exterior changes, including adding new windows.
“We’ll still have a good, strong presence, but we’re keeping the historical integrity of the building in place, so we’ll fit into the Vista pretty well,” Gdovin cq said.
The work on the inside of the building has already begun, according to both Gdovin and Moore.
Gdovin and his franchise also own the Panera on Garners Ferry. According to Gdovin, this gives the Vista Panera a unique advantage.
“I think a lot of people are really familiar with us — really have high expectations,” he said.
Along with the addition of Urban Outfitters and Chipotle to the Vista in 2013, this addition signals a trend of more franchises in the historic commercial district.
Students who don’t normally frequent the Vista might have more reasons to go once the Panera opens.
Taylor Morrow, a first-year pre-pharmacy student, has her car on campus but doesn’t go to the Vista very often. However, with the addition of the Panera to the area’s establishments, she believes that it will give her a reason to go there more often.
“It’s a cheaper place to go to that I can afford,” she said. “And it’s quick, and I can even go study there.”
Gdovin hopes that the Panera will draw students like Morrow to the Vista to get fresh-baked goods, fresh bread and unique catering opportunities that they wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else.
“I think it brings a lot of variance and opportunity,” Gdovin said. “We’ll be able to work with people at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I don’t think anything in the Vista does that right now.”