Photo by Katherine Harris
The Wedge & Wheel cheese bar Stillwater
While Stillwater may be booming (check out my report in the August issue, on newsstands now!), there's a sad casualty to report. Wedge & Wheel, the cute little artisan cheese shop/cheese bar just off Main Street, is closing this week. In their newsletter this morning, owner Chris Kohtz wrote that while the business has been busier than ever, he's had to make some hard decisions about the realities of his space.
"However, as W&W has gotten busier and busier, it’s also become clear that our location and store space have limits. We don’t have room to expand the dining side of our operation as we would need to keep up with growth. While we’re so happy so many make the effort to get downtown to buy our cheese, our location’s accessibility restricts our opportunity grow that side of the business. Finally, our location outside of the heart of the metro, combined with very low regional unemployment and rapid rise in wage requirements have made it very difficult to find and keep together experienced staff. As the time came to consider renewing the next stage of our lease, I had to consider all these factors and make some hard choices."
After five years (and 20,000 lbs. of cheese!) he's decided to close. Kohtz has no plans on relocating or re-opening at this time (though he did hint that there were already exciting plans in the works for the space.)
Sunday was the last day of food service for dining. As of tomorrow, they will be open full hours for retail sales only until all the cheese and meat cases are empty. Head on down and get your fill while you can. They plan to close mid-week once all the product finds a home.
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