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Formaggio Kitchen, Saxelby Cheesemongers open in Essex Street Market |
07.07.2006
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NEW YORK--Formaggio Kitchen opened its third location, a 250-square-foot storefront here in the Essex Street Market, June 23. It's the third gourmet retailer to open in four months within Manhattan's only public market.
Ihsan Gurdal, owner of Formaggio Kitchen, heard about the available retail space from one of the market's other tenants--Jason Hinds of London's Neal's Yard Dairy. Hinds teamed up with Daphne Zepos, formerly of the Artisanal Cheese Center here, to open Essex Street Cheese Co., a purveyor of hand-selected Comte Saint Antoine, in February.
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"It's a pretty interesting, diverse market. It's an area where hip and trendy businesses are starting to come in," said Gurdal about the Lower East Side market. "It's a lot like what happened in the South End (of Boston) when we went in." Gurdal and his wife Valerie opened South End Formaggio in Boston's historic South End in January 2000. "It's a lot less edgy now," he said. The location here sells Formaggio Kitchen's charcuterie, cheese and staples such as olive oil and all the condiments Gurdal imports exclusively for his stores. "It's a mini-version of Formaggio Kitchen," he said referring to his 20-year-old Cambridge, Mass., gourmet store. An added bonus: Formaggio Kitchen's warehouse is about 10 minutes away from the Essex Street Market.
In other news, Anne Saxelby, a veteran of Murray's Cheese, opened her American-focused cheese shop--Saxelby Cheesemongers--May 5.
At Essex Street Market, Saxelby ages and sells cheese, butter, creme fraiche, and other dairy products at the 120-square-foot cheese shop. In addition to the retail cheese counter, the shop houses a working cave calibrated to age the cheeses onsite.
The shop occupies a stall adjacent to Puerto Rican diner and an art gallery featuring the work of artists from the Lower East Side.
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Gearing up for the holidays
Recently, I interviewed Pam Danziger, retail expert and the author of Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience...
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