The Concord Cheese Shop

I feel extremely lucky to live within a reasonable driving distance of the Concord Cheese Shop. This wonderful shop is an old world, old school, extremely thoughtfully curated gourmet shop. Going there is like going back in time to the era of S.S. Pierce when Julia Child was still living, and it brings brings back the delight of discovering the many delicacies of Europe anew! The wine buyer, Mike, helped me find a spectacular wine to serve with a special seafood stew I was making for my sister, who was visiting. We were blown away by the bottle and the service and, of course, the cheeses. You will get a side of eduction with your purchases if that is what you enjoy. The proprietor has a map on the wall that he delights in pointing you to as he describes the origins of his wares. You are also able to taste the cheeses before purchasing, to make sure they are what you had in mind!! If only there were 6 or 7 or 8 stars... this place merits as many stars as can be!! AND they make great sandwiches and other foods.

Too many cheeses to choose from, but the service was extremely helpful in pointing out cheeses that would be a good fit for what I like. It's a shame there's no sampling, but understandable. I've never been disappointed by any type of cheese I've purchased. Today I found a crystalline Gouda that is just excellent.

Holy CHEESUS! Not only a great selection of cheeses but sooooo many amazing little jars and bottles and bags of crazy good things. And some really fantastic locally sourced, small batch beers and ciders. And of course wine! The deli is also fantastic. Great smiles and service - a friendly gent spent spent quite a bit of time with us explaining how they sourced the beer and ciders. First time back since about 1985 and it's still fantastic.

If I had to describe heaven on Earth, it would look pretty similar to The Concord Cheese Shop. When you walk in, there is a whole counter top and fridge full of all the types of cheeses one could ever want to sample. To the right are shelves full of wine, specialty teas, and all the snacks and accompaniments you’d want. In the back corner, there’s a deli counter with sandwiches and salami. If there’s a lot of people, the process is you take a yellow ticket and wait to be called up to get serviced. If you don’t need anything cut or portioned, you won’t need a ticket. I ended up spending about $100 for two bottles of wine ($6 each from Portugal), 6 cheeses, cashews, salami, and amazing customer service. It’s a little pricey, but you pay for the quality of the cheeses, well worth it, especially since you get to sample the cheeses before you get them. Sometimes the people at the counter will cut too much and will share some with other people. But all the staff are wicked knowledgeable on the cheeses so just share some things that you’re looking for and they’ll give you some ideas of what to get! It can be quite busy around the holidays (especially when I went 3 days before Christmas), so make sure you’re not in a rush. Parking can be tricky since it’s in Downtown Concord, but there’s a ton of street parking in the area. I hope you enjoy this shop as much as I do!

Great wine section with a very nice gentleman who listened to what we were looking for and recommended a great wine that was a perfect accompaniment to our dinner that evening. And now the cheese...oh the cheese!!! So many countries, types and tastes! Again, someone was ready to assist and helped us pick out the right cheeses for what we needed. Fabulous service!