House of Gouda to open late this month in Eau Claire
Feb. 6—EAU CLAIRE — For its second retail shop, area cheesemaker Marieke Gouda is envisioning a store where shoppers in Eau Claire can get a variety of cheeses, meats and other snacks to make a platter fit for a party.
After establishing its first store in its hometown of Thorp, the company's new House of Gouda is set to open Feb. 28 on Eau Claire's south side.
"The real difference for the new store is it's going to be set up like a charcuterie board build," said Alex Barnickle-Miller, the company's marketing director and project leader for the new store.
In the center of the store will be a large island where cheese will be cut to order. The wide variety of Marieke's gouda — 25 different flavors in addition to nine ages of plain gouda — will be sold there. But the store will also carry a few other kinds of cheese from other companies, primarily from Wisconsin.
"We believe gouda is No. 1, but cheddar and Swiss are great to have as well," Barnickle-Miller said.
Meats, jams, nuts, wines, beer and Dutch candies will also be for sale at the new store.
The idea is carrying everything needed to make your own cheese and meat platter, as well as beverages to pair well with it. The store will also have some pre-made charcuterie boards available, as well as make special orders for customers.
The cheese store is opening up in one of the suites created in the building at 4008 Commonwealth Ave., which used to be a single 10,000-sqaure-foot location for a chain of nationwide home decor stores.
Marieke Gouda owner Marieke Penterman had shopped at the Pier 1 Imports in Eau Claire before it and all other stores in the chain closed in 2020 when the chain went into bankruptcy and switched to online-only sales. When a developer bought the building in 2021 and announced its transformation into a multi-tenant building, Penterman saw that prominent spot in a high-traffic shopping area would be good for Marieke Gouda's second retail shop.
Marieke Gouda's first shop is located alongside the company's dairy farm and production area, just off Highway 29 in Thorp. That cheese outlet is geared more geared toward tourism, Barnickle-Miler said, featuring tours in summertime to show people how the cheese is made.
The former Pier 1 store already has one of its suites occupied by a business that opened there late last year. Nail spa Rev Nails debuted there at the end of December.
The third business to open up in the multi-tenant building there will be a Crumbl Cookies, which is a growing chain of cookie stores. That dessert business is currently expecting to be open this spring.
