{"id":3074,"date":"2025-03-01T04:25:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T04:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/cheese-shops-we-love-bimis-cheese-shop\/"},"modified":"2025-03-01T04:25:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T04:25:57","slug":"cheese-shops-we-love-bimis-cheese-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/cheese-shops-we-love-bimis-cheese-shop\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheese Shops we Love: Bimi\u2019s Cheese Shop"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Location<\/strong><\/h2>\n

21 Main St, Chatham, NY 12037<\/p>\n

Creating a Space for Cheese in Chatham<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n

\"Ellen

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Ellen outside Bimi’s photo credit Jack Shear<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bimi\u2019s owners, Ellen Waggett and husband, Chris Landy, seem unlikely cheesemongers. First off, they work in television in New York City. She\u2019s an Emmy Award-nominated freelance production designer for Late Night with<\/em> Seth Meyers<\/em> and created the set for Chopped<\/em>. Chris Landy is an Emmy Award-winning lighting designer whose clients include Oprah Winfrey and The Tonight Show. <\/em>So, cheese?<\/p>\n

In 2004, they purchased a weekend house in New York\u2019s Hudson Valley, close to the small town of Chatham, about 2 hours north of New York City. The town has a central main street lined with small businesses including a wine store, a historic movie theater, a pub, a brewery and a bookstore.<\/p>\n

Ellen and Chris wanted to contribute to their adopted home, where they weekended with their two children, calling it \u201ctheir real home.\u201d Their dream was to create a business to help the town of Chatham thrive, to bring in a new audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cChatham is the most physically beautiful town,\u201d said Waggett. \u201cWe thought, what can we do to keep it from going away? What would we want to see here? When we moved up here, our rule was to be no more than 20 minutes away from excellent food and wine. Literally, that\u2019s what started the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine years ago they opened their cheese store, naming it Bimi\u2019s after Waggett\u2019s late mother. It\u2019s located on Chatham\u2019s main drag in a historic two-story brick building, circa 1871. Long ago it housed a vaudeville theater where once Houdini and the Three Stooges performed. Later it became the studio for artist Ellsworth Kelly who painted his Chatham Series.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The couple wanted Bimi\u2019s to have a particular vibe. Friends confided that they\u2019re often intimidated by cheese stores, said Waggett. Finding them \u201chaughty and highbrow.\u201d We wanted to make our shop accessible, friendly, \u201ca community touchstone.\u201d That took careful store design, something natural to the pair, who crafted the interior themselves utilizing found and recycled items.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It also took careful staff training. \u201cTeaching staff how to talk to customers the second they get in the door. How to then let them breathe and get acclimated. Keep touching base but don\u2019t overwhelm them. Offer them tastes, and don\u2019t correct pronunciation, ever,\u201c Waggett said. \u201cMake cheese shopping fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Make it local, too. Bimi\u2019s keeps a focus on the artisans and makers of the Northeast. Most of their domestic cheeses are sourced just from New York and neighboring Massachusetts and Vermont. Remaining cheeses are sourced from abroad.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nowadays, Bimi\u2019s attracts customers from larger upstate cities and they sell online. For two designers to open a cheese store, it\u2019s pretty crazy, she said. \u201cWe\u2019re weird cheese people, but it seems to work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Store <\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n

\"Bimi's

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Bimis interior photo credit Chris Landy<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bimi\u2019s Cheese Shop is located at street level. A sandwich sign outside announces \u201cCheese Sold Here.\u201d Open seven days, the 800-square-foot shop carries around 45 cheeses sold from a large glass case display case. The store has an old-timey atmosphere with exposed brick walls, a pressed tin ceiling and curios such as a gumball machine and a butter churner. Large windows flank the front door and counters line each window with stools for patrons to eat a grilled cheese or sip an espresso. There is outside seating. A center display showcases cheese-adjacent items including fancy crackers, chips, jams and vinegars. They sell baked goods, charcuterie and provisions plus some wrapped cut cheeses.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Top Selling Cheeses
<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Challerhocker<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n

\"Challerhocker\"<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

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Produced in Switzerland, this is a firm aged, raw-milk Alpine-style cheese with a nutty, fruity flavor. It melts well in a grilled cheese, advised store manager, Heather. \u201cVery accessible, it\u2019s a good entry-level cheese that makes people realize this is not a block of Cracker Barrel,\u201d said Waggett. \u201cThe flavor keeps blooming in your mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

St. Stephen<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Crafted by Four Fat Fowl in nearby Stephentown, NY, it\u2019s made from Jersey cow milk and cream.\u00a0 An award-winning soft-ripened triple cr\u00e8me with a bloomy rind. Waggett finds it \u201ccleaner than Camembert, buttery and super accessible because it\u2019s not too funky.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meredith Dairy Farmstead Sheep and Goat Cheese<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n

\"Meredith<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

This Australian mix of marinated sheep and goat cheese in a jar of spiked olive oil is hard to keep in stock. Often customers return for a second jar, said Waggett, noting, \u201cthe lemony tang of the goat cheese, the velvety smoothness of the sheep\u2019s milk cheese.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also Look For <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Bimi\u2019s prepares breakfast and sells a selection of signature grilled sandwiches and cold ones, soup, coffee and teas. In progress is an ambitious expansion of the space, creating a farm-to-table restaurant, Bimi\u2019s Canteen, and a downstairs speakeasy bar. Both are set to open around Memorial Day. A gelato bar is slated for the future. <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Location 21 Main St, Chatham, NY 12037 Creating a Space for Cheese in Chatham Ellen outside Bimi’s photo credit Jack Shear Bimi\u2019s owners, Ellen Waggett and husband, Chris Landy, seem unlikely cheesemongers. First off, they work in television in New York City. She\u2019s an Emmy Award-nominated freelance production designer for Late Night with Seth Meyers … Okumaya devam et “Cheese Shops we Love: Bimi\u2019s Cheese Shop”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}