Panera Bread to open two South Oakland sites

Although the inside of the future Panera Bread in Sennott Square still looks like a giant… Although the inside of the future Panera Bread in Sennott Square still looks like a giant concrete box, there is a mass of planning and preparing behind the scenes.

Panera is set to open no later than Dec. 2, according to Leah Hall, the public relations and marketing director for the Panera Bread franchise in Pittsburgh and parts of West Virginia. However, Hall says that the franchise may be open as soon as November.

The opening of Panera will be the culmination of years worth of negotiations and marketing. According to Ron Cichowicz, a University spokesman, the marketing effort to contract business for the ground level of Sennott Square began prior to construction. The negotiations between Panera and Pitt began more than six months ago, according to Hall.

Hall explained that the length of the negotiations occurred because of complications in renting a partially government-funded building, as the state provided $22.8 million dollars in funding for the building.

“We were wanting to open now as the students are arriving, but it was quite a process,” Hall said.

There will, however, be a Panera opening in Oakland in September. Located on Boulevard of the Allies underneath the Best Western, it will have its grand opening Sept. 2.

The closeness in proximity of the two stores does not worry Hall because of differences in the people giving their business to the restaurants.

“It is a totally different market. The [Boulevard of the Allies] store will service Magee and the business community, while the Panera on Forbes will be a predominately college store,” Hall said. “Panera bread typically does well anywhere. It gives the guest a different alternative.”

Panera already has successful stores at Penn State and West Virginia University, according to Hall, which is in large part the reason for the Panera’s decision to rent from the University.

“We definitely wanted to get on the Pitt campus,” Hall said.

Currently, the store is in process of selecting the contractors to build the inside of the store. Hall said that they hope to employ two crews in order to get the job done faster. According to Hall, crews typically take three months to put together a Panera Bread store. It then takes the Panera employees another seven days to get the store stocked and cleaned.

Panera stores, which contain a bakery as well as an area with soups, sandwiches and salads, have been in the Pittsburgh area for three years, with 15 stores.

Some local merchants seem happy to see the new stores move in. Ruth LaVallee is the co-owner of the Kunst Bakery, which has been on Forbes Avenue since 1945 when her father opened the shop. She and her brother took over the store in 1973 and serve everything from cookies and cakes to bread and doughnuts. But she doesn’t see the possibility of added competition as a problem.

“Competition is good for you. It keeps you on your toes, makes you do better,” LaVallee said. She added that any business is welcome and needed to enhance the Oakland area.

“We need more businesses. We don’t want empty storefronts. It’s a community, so you need all kinds of different businesses here,” she said.

But at this point, there are no specifics on what businesses Sennott Square may draw to the Oakland area in the future.

According to Cichowicz, there have been no new businesses signed for the space below Sennott Square. He said he could not release information on the length of and terms of the lease. “Anything involving the contract is confidential,” he said.