Open for business! But now what? The owner of a popular independent cheese store in Sarasota, Florida, shares her experience with the bruising logistics of closing her shop and, weeks later, the anxiety of re-opening. Divining what customers might crave after weeks of lockdown, plus retooling her sales practices, has been keeping Louise Kennedy Converse (above)—aka Cheese Louise—awake at night. Our conversation has been edited and condensed.
Tell me about the Artisan Cheese Company pre-pandemic.
We moved in two years ago, and we built the store from the ground up. It’s 2,000 square feet. The small shop we opened in 2012 was half that and we needed more elbow room. We have a harvest table that seats 30 but it’s now a desk because we can’t have anybody at it. The cheese counter is the main feature of the shop. Before we shut down, we had 80 to 90 artisan cheeses, split between European and domestic. We used to serve lunch but that’s been suspended, of course.
When did you close?
On March14 for customers inside the shop and on April 1 for good when the governor initiated the lockdown. We were deemed an essential business, but we just didn’t feel that we were that essential. This is an older community, so closing just felt like the right thing to do. We sold everything we could because we didn’t know if we would ever open again. Anything leftover we took to the hospital for first responders. We had nothing left.
Beginning again with brand-new inventory has been a challenge when we’re only operating at about 30 percent.
Jasper Hill Harbison
How is the store different now?
Before, we were just trying to pay the next bill. Now, we’ve given purpose to everything in the shop. “Do we really love this? Why do we want this in our case? Is it helping the cheesemaker?” When we learned that Jasper Hill was selling off its herd, we brought in extra Harbison. We’re buying direct from a few makers because it felt like it would help them a little more. We are being brutally honest about what our inventory is about.
We are now super-heavy on domestic cheeses. We’ve added more grab-and-go, cottage cheese, yogurt and fresh cheeses like burrata that people are really aching for. They weren’t buying fresh cheeses in lockdown because of the shelf life. They were buying harder cheeses that would last.
In normal times, we do a ridiculous amount of sampling. But people aren’t lingering. In this masked environment, it’s a whole different experience. We have to be more descriptive, and they have to trust us.
We’re currently allowed to have 25 percent of our normal capacity in the shop. We have signs at the door asking people to wear a mask and use the hand sanitizer. People are being super respectful. If they don’t want to come into the shop or don’t have a mask, we help them at our walk-up window.
We put our entire inventory online almost overnight. So now our customers are ordering online and picking up. We can’t serve cheese plates at the table, and we can’t sell large party cheese boards because nobody is partying, so we created a cheese box to go. Pivot is the word of the month.
How have buying patterns changed?
Before, people were buying anything and everything. We would hold out a bottle of wine and they would say yes. Now, they’re more discerning. They’re buying the softer cheeses that they weren’t able to buy on lockdown. And the quantities are smaller because they’re not having people over.
Any lessons for other retailers in the same situation?
Really listen to your team. Allow them to go for a walk around the block or go sit down in the back. Having to wear a mask for 12 hours is not natural. It’s not who we are. It takes a toll. It’s great to see our customers come back, but we literally want to hug them and we can’t.
What do you think the longer term will look like?
I don’t know. The PPP money is going super quickly. We hope to create enough momentum with our renewed inventory and energy to sustain us through the summer, which is our slow season.
Any estimate of what this experience has cost you so far?
All of April was lost. For May, we’re probably down 30 to 40 percent. We don’t know when we’ll have guests eating at the shop—probably not for a long while. That was 20 percent of our business. Or when we can do cheese classes or private events or catering. That was 15 percent of our business. We’re outliers in Sarasota and we’ve always had to work hard, but now we have to work harder. We know people’s nerves are on edge. There’s a lot of fragility. If you look at me, I’m smiling and bubbly, but you could flick me and I’ll burst into tears. Still, I know we’re one of the lucky ones. We were able to re-open.