IT’S BEEN a challenging couple of years for independent cheese shops in the U.S., as the specialty-cheese boom they fostered is absorbed by big-box retailers who sell some of the same brands they do, at lower prices. Independent cheese shops are the front line, connecting consumers (and their dollars) to small-scale and local cheese producers as well as makers of cheese-adjacent products such as yogurt, butter, charcuterie, jam, pickles, crackers and beer. A brigade of cut-to-order cheesemongers care for cheeses, answer...

Source: Wall Street Journal January 03, 2020 13:28 UTC