Since opening in 2010, provisions market and specialty cheese shop Cheese Louise has been a staple of “Gourmet Row,” a food-centric stretch on Route 28 between Kingston and Woodstock. In addition to imported, rare, and exciting cheeses, the market is beloved for its prepared antipasti items like stuffed grape leaves, olives, cured meats like Italian prosciutto and mortadella, and caviar, as well as deli counter staples like whitefish salad and made-to-order sandwiches. The multicolored wood shelves are packed with dried goods like pasta and crackers, preserves, baguettes, and goodies from local chocolatier Fruition.
In March 2023, the Hudson Valley institution was taken over by Ari Alonso-Lubell, who has been a loyal customer since he started visiting the area about eight years ago. Now a full-time Hudson Valley resident, the self-described “serial entrepreneur” says the new business venture fell into his lap quite by accident. “I was just looking on Google for Cheese Louise-related things, and then I saw a link to an article about it being for sale,” he recalls.
Alonso-Lubell had no plans to buy the store at first, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized he brought a valuable dual perspective to the store, as both a customer and a business owner. “I love Cheese Louise so much, but like any business you love, you also think about the things that you would want to improve about it,” he says. “So I saw both a beautiful, awesome place that people love and also some things that I would want to tweak about it.”
The main tweak is no small feat: It’s the opening of a second location in Rhinebeck, which was made possible through a similarly serendipitous discovery. Shortly after purchasing Cheese Louise, Alonso-Lubell was in Rhinebeck. Walking past the building that briefly housed the Woodstock Meats pop-up and a butcher shop before that, he noticed a “for sale” sign in the window and all the old deli equipment still inside. He called the owner, and everything came together quickly from there—Alonso-Lubell took over the lease at the end of May, and the store was open by July.
Seeing Silver Linings
Alonso-Lubell has a natural inclination toward entrepreneurship, seeing opportunities where others see challenges. He graduated college in 2019 and was living in New York City when COVID-19 lockdowns shocked and shuttered the world. Living in a COVID epicenter of the United States, he watched closely to see how restaurants adapted: outdoor extensions of their existing buildings, pop-ups, food trucks.
It was a frustrating time for business owners, but Alonso-Lubell also saw potential. He came up with the idea to open a grilled cheese food truck, but instead pivoted into a business outfitting the food trucks themselves. After that, he and his brother Miguel opened Court Street Coffee and Books in Brooklyn, which his brother still manages. “The idea was to figure out how to build a neighborhood business that is profitable but also focused on the community,” Alonso-Lubell explains.
He continues to apply this philosophy at both Cheese Louise storefronts, expanding selection while continuing to cultivate a loyal customer base. Under his ownership, the Route 28 location has introduced a freezer case with Woodstock-made Nancy’s ice cream, as well as sausages and fresh pastas.
The new location doesn’t have everything the Route 28 one does yet, but the Cheese Louise team is making steady progress on bringing the Kingston location’s signature prepared items across the river. Alonso-Lubell sees the Rhinebeck store as more of a boutique—less selection but a more intense focus on cheese. While at the Route 28 location most customers come in for a quick shop, quickly purchasing their provisions and leaving, in Rhinebeck people are encouraged to have an experience with the resident cheesemonger Kate Longtoe and sample as many cheeses as they like.
They plan to carry a number of rare or experimental cheeses but also emphasize the work of local cheesemakers, including Churchtown Dairy in Hudson, Four Fat Fowl, a creamery in Stephentown, and, in the Kingston location, Harpersfield Cheese in Jefferson. “There are so many cheesemakers who [are] doing amazing stuff in the Hudson Valley,” Alonso-Lubell says.
The second location came with brand new equipment, which is practical but presents its own hurdle. “The challenge for Rhinebeck is trying to reintroduce that rustic charm that we have naturally in Kingston into this new-looking location,” Alonso-Lubell says. Still, rustic charm or not, he says the community response has been “wonderful, beyond my wildest expectations.
