Bagel + Slice owner Michael Robles said he plans to vacate the shop Oct. 31. Robles said he has been trying to keep his business alive for the last year, ever since sales dropped over 70 percent in the month after President Donald Trump announced his crackdown on immigration enforcement. According to Robles, Occidental students make up 20 to 30 percent of his sales, and he gets the rest of his revenue from delivery apps and local customers.
Robles said he bought Bagel + Slice in 2022 from Brad Kent, whom he worked with for 12 years at another restaurant he owns, Olio’s Wood Fired Pizzeria in the Grand Central Market. Robles said he noticed a similar decline in business at Olio’s Wood Fired Pizzeria and other businesses in the area.
“Nobody is going to spend money [and] nobody is going to go outside, because everybody is scared,” Robles said. “That’s why I saw business go down, because nobody is going to spend money right now.”
According to a July 2026 report from UCLA, June 2025 ICE activity negatively affected businesses around enforcement sites and beyond, and effects have worsened over time. Ninety-five percent of entrepreneurs interviewed for the report said they were still struggling with financial stress almost a year after the enforcement surge.
“Many of these businesses remain in debt, barely breaking even, and struggling to stay open,” the report said. “Respondents described financial instability as an ongoing condition rather than a temporary disruption.”
Occidental’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Amos Himmelstein said the college is letting Robles vacate the lease at the end of October.
“We’re going to let him out of the lease, knowing someone else is coming in,” Himmelstein said. “We’re currently in talks to see who might be taking it over […] we don’t want an empty corner.”
Himmelstein said the college chose Bagel + Slice to be in the space because it complements Skaf’s on York, the Lebanese restaurant that occupies the space next door, also leased by Occidental.
“Bagels and pizza was a good idea because it was [open in the] morning and went into the evening,” Himmelstein said. “We’re trying to find something complementary to that space.”
Himmelstein said when Bagel + Slice moved into the space, the college made a deal with the shop to have a vending option.
“The agreement from the beginning was [that] they would do [vending],” Himmelstein said. “We first wanted to make sure that house hospitality, our dining, was okay with it. They had to work out something about the card swipe. It didn’t work right away because we had to work through some technical issues.”
According to Robles, Occidental students will continue to be able to use vending money at the shop through the GetMobile app up until the shop closes at the end of the month. Robles said students receive a 10 percent discount when they come into the shop, even if they do not have the app.
*Magdalene Selin-Williams (junior) said Bagel + Slice is the only place that Occidental students are able to spend vending money off campus.
“I went [to Bagel + Slice] on Friday because I had a class at Oxy Arts that got postponed, so I decided since I was hungry, I would just stop there,” Selin-Williams said.
Meldia Yesayan is the director of Oxy Arts, the multidisciplinary arts program at Occidental. According to Yesayan, Oxy Arts shares the space that the college leases to Bagel + Slice.
“It’s been wonderful to have [Bagel + Slice] as neighbors on what we feel is a satellite campus, and it will be sad to see them go,” Yesayan said via email.
Sadie Medros (senior) said she went to Bagel + Slice a lot on the weekends during her first year at Occidental.
“I think that it’s a really nice space to go to, and obviously it’s so close,” Medros said. “Even just when I walk by, there are always Occidental students around.”
Itzel Robles, Michael Robles’ sister, said businesses further up York Boulevard have an easier time making money because they are in a busier area.
“We mostly depend on [Occidental students], because this area is kind of slow,” Itzel Robles said.
Itzel Robles said she started working at Bagel + Slice a couple years after it opened.
“I just wanted to support my brother,” Itzel Robles said.
Michael Robles said he is thankful for everyone who came to the shop during the almost five years he owned it. Robles said he is losing more money than he is making by keeping the shop open.
“I feel bad, because a lot of kids come here, and I’m happy, but I spend a lot of money here,” Robles said.
*Magdalene Selin-Williams is the business manager for The Occidental
Contact Lila Weiner at weinerl@oxy.edu
