Local cheesemaker Black Radish Creamery has closed its stall at the North Market Bridge Park, 6750 Longshore St., as of late April. Co-Owner Anne Reese says several factors contributed to the decision to close in Dublin, including impacts from the pandemic and what customers looked for out of the Market.
Black Radish announced its commitment to the project prior to the pandemic, and opened inside the space in early 2021.
“As the pandemic proved to be a challenge for any small business, the fresh focused portion of our vision at the market became a challenge for us to navigate with majority of visitors to North Market Bridge Park arriving for the eclectic and delicious dining options, but not so much to regularly purchase groceries to take home and stock their pantries or refrigerators,” Reese says.
While Black Radish did offer a prepared foods menu at Bridge Park, Reese says the desire was to focus more on being a cut-to-order specialty cheese shop. Instead of changing their business model to add a more robust food menu, the brand decided to close Dublin and focus on their location within the North Market Downtown and production creamery near Granville.
“Our decision in this closure is certainly bittersweet,” Reese says. “However, now we have the resources, time, and ability to bring back our cheese tasting classes, enhance our customer experience at our Downtown North Market Cheese Shop, and focus on all the exciting things we have planned for our creamery location.”
Black Radish opened its stall at the North Market Downtown in May of 2017. In early 2021, Black Radish added a creamery farm store at 3700 Morse Rd. in Alexandria. Not only can customers find their favorite cheeses at their remaining brick-and-mortar locations, but Black Radish will also frequent the Granville and Worthington farmers markets this summer.
“We know Black Radish Creamery’s business decision to close their Bridge Park shop was a very difficult one to make, but we are grateful for all they contributed to the project,” says Rick Harrison Wolfe, executive director + CEO of the North Market. “We are looking ahead to the future and ensuring that our Dublin guests will still have access to the finest cheeses.”
The North Market is actively reviewing proposals for potential new merchants to replace Black Radish in Dublin.
For more information, visit blackradishcreamery.com.