The owner of Einstein Bros. Bagels closed one of its two Lawrence locations Wednesday.

Golden, Colo.-based New World Restaurant Group Inc. closed an “underperforming store” as its lease expired at 3514 Clinton Parkway, said Bill Parness, a company spokesman.

“We decided not to renew the lease,” he said.

The move came as a surprise, said Mary Brumback, one of about a dozen employees left without jobs.

“There was no warning, no compensation,” said Brumback, who worked 35 hours a week, baking up to 1,500 bagels a day. “We could have been out looking for jobs.”

Brumback said that two employees were offered the chance to transfer to the company’s other Lawrence store, at 1026 Mass., which will remain open. Others were told they could apply for posts at other Einstein locations in the Kansas City area.

New World – with about 700 bagels shops in 34 states and the District of Columbia – has 13 locations in the Kansas City area.