A fine foods shop is opening in Carrboro. What to know about Wedgewood Cheese Bar.
Connoisseurs could be lining up Wednesday when a Carrboro cheesemonger launches a European experience in the Paris of the Piedmont.
Wedgewood Cheese Bar has been widely anticipated since owners Stevie and Michelle Webb announced that the business — formerly The Cheese Shop — was moving in late 2023.
After multiple delays and an equipment failure in March that ruined 200 pounds of cheese, the opening date is here. The 100B Brewer Lane shop will sell nearly a hundred varieties of cheese, butters and specialty meats, the Webbs said.
“We work really hard on curating stuff that is really good,” Stevie Webb said. “If we don’t like it, it’s not in the case and it’s not on the shelves.”
Wedgewood’s horseshoe-shaped bar will seat 12, and another 23 seats upstairs will overlook the 2,000-square-foot shop below. Wheels and blocks will be sliced to order at the cheese counter, which features 18 feet of refrigerated cases.
Wedgewood will also stock a wall of packaged foods — jams, pasta, crackers and more — along with wines curated by Paula de Pano, a Chapel Hill sommelier who owns Rocks + Acid Wine Shop in Southern Village.
All their products, plus some “great local produce” and focaccia from Ideal’s Sandwich and Grocery in Durham, could eventually find their way onto a gradually expanding menu of snacks, salads, sandwiches and desserts, Stevie Webb said.
“We’ve got a lot of exclusive cheeses, some things that went out of production and then came back into production, certainly a lot in this country,” he said. “We will always have the world champion cheese, which is a 12-month Gruyere from Gourmino in Switzerland.”
Other special varieties include a Canadian cheese that’s “impossible to get in this country,” a “great selection of British cheeses,” and Alisios, a Canary Island cheese made from goat and sheep milk and dusted with paprika, the Webbs said.
Tariffs have created an uncertain environment, Stevie Webb acknowledged, but their relationships with small, independent producers and distributors “makes a huge difference.”
Farmer’s market to pop-up to cheese shop
Stevie Webb is a trained chef and cheesemonger from Great Britain, who moved to the United States in 2006. He previously worked at Brooklyn’s Greene Grape and at Leiths School of Food & Wine in London.
In 2015, he met Michelle Webb, a health-care communications professional, in a Washington, D.C., bar.
In 2022, they started selling cheese at Pluck Farm Farmer’s Market, later adding a supper series and curated cheese packs for local breweries and wine bars. The Cheese Shop, an 80-square-foot pop-up, opened in 2023 inside Carrboro’s Glasshalfull restaurant and wine bar. By the end of the year, they were planning a bigger shop on Brewer Lane.
It’s been a challenging journey, compounded by the birth of two sons and the loss this year of thousands of dollars in cheese, the Webbs said, but they have found hope and stability in an outpouring of support and donations.
“You open your little shop, and you don’t realize how much impact you’ve had — whether we’ve done anything important or whether we’re just a little shop,” he said. “We’re really so glad to have been vindicated as part of the Carrboro community, as part of the Triangle community. People came out and helped us with whatever they could.”
In April, they closed The Cheese Shop to focus full time on Wedgewood, which has faced delays from aging mechanical equipment, old wiring and difficulty getting materials, Michelle Webb said.
But they’ve also had fun finding just the right details with help from designer Shaun Sundholm, she said. The shop’s name — and its decor — are a modern take on classic Wedgwood China, manufactured in England and renowned for its blue and white designs.
And they’re especially proud of the bathrooms, they said. One has a London theme, honoring Stevie’s home in the United Kingdom, while the other evokes Michelle’s native Brooklyn in New York.
A business district revival
Carrboro’s Brewer Lane was once part of a thriving business district connecting historically African-American neighborhoods, but the area languished in the ‘90s. Now customers are coming back for the growing number of small, local businesses, from Lapin Bleu and Franklin Motors to Purple Bowl, Baxter Arcade and Brandwein’s Bagels.
Stevie and Michelle Webb are among those who think Brewer Lane has a thriving future.
They’ve been talking with the owners of Belltree Cocktail Club, which shares space next door in the Carolina Car Wash building, a Black-owned business that has stood at that location since the 1950s under different owners and names.
They’re planning co-hosted events and, in time, a QR menu so Belltree patrons can order from Wedgewood, they said. A second Cat’s Cradle music club under construction across the street could bring even more people.
“The great thing is, if you are waiting, you can go right to the Belltree, so there’s a symbiotic benefit of bringing something new to the neighborhood and having somewhere for people to go,” Michelle Webb said. “I think it’s a fun extension of Franklin Street.”
Tom Tucker, who still owns the car wash after 30 years, wandered over as the cheese shop’s blue awning was being hung. He’s excited to see new life on the street, too, he said.
“Ever since these guys announced they’re coming, we’ve got more customers and people coming by, asking where’s the cheese shop,” Tucker said. “Now we’re coming into a new era.”
Hours, more services and parking
▪ Wedgewood Cheese Bar is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays.
▪ The cheese shop also offers private dining and party reservations upstairs.
▪ It’s a short walk to public parking lots on West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill and the Carrboro parking deck at 300 East Main.
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