New Duluth store manager Jessy Peterson, left, and Vice President of Retail Operations Jamie Swan stand in front of the cheese cases at the Burnett Dairy Cooperative store in Alpha, Wisconsin. The new Duluth store will feature a similar layout. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)

Duluth cheese lovers will have an extraordinary place to shop for their provolone, cheddar and curds next month when an award-winning Wisconsin dairy opens a large specialty store in a newly developed section of the Riverside neighborhood below Spirit Mountain.

Burnett Dairy Cooperative, based near Grantsburg, Wisconsin, is completing construction on a 5,000-square-foot store and plans to open in July at the new RiverWest development on the 8500 block of Grand Avenue. The store will include take-and-bake pizza, sandwiches, grab-and-go snacks, hard-scoop ice cream and more.

“We’re bringing the cheese to Duluth,” said Jamie Swan, vice president of retail operations for Burnett Dairy.

Construction on the new Burnett County Dairy retail store in the RiverWest development near Spirit Mountain is nearing completion.

The farmer-owned co-op was established in 1896 and makes a wide variety of cheese at its Alpha, Wisconsin dairy, where it also operates a retail store. In 2013, the co-op acquired the Cady Cheese factory and retail store near Spring Valley, Wisconsin south of I-94. The Duluth store will be the first not attached to a cheese-making facility.

The new store will feature a bistro with counter service, off-sale beer, wine and spirits as well as unique dairy-based merchandise. Hard-scoop cones and other cold treats will be available for walk-up with a large seating area inside.

Artisan-made, take-and-bake pizza will be featured at the new Burnett Diary Cooperative retail store in Duluth.

“But mostly we’ll be featuring our cheese,” Swan said. “We’re bringing all of our cheese to Duluth and it will be a great little store.”

Judges seem to agree on the quality of its cheese making. In the past 25 years, the Burnett Dairy Cooperative has won dozens of honors in both U.S. and world competitions. Most recently, the dairy took second and third places for its provolone in the 2024 World Championship Cheese Contest. Its smoked string cheese took first and second in the 2023 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest.

The Burnett Dairy Cooperative has long been a mecca for cheese lovers and an ice cream pitstop for northwestern Wisconsin travelers. The store’s motto: “The must stop cheese shop.”

The Burnett Dairy Cooperative cheese factory and retail store is located in Alpha, Wisconsin between Grantsburg and Siren, Wisconsin.

RiverWest developer Brad Johnson said his family makes regular dairy visits on drives between his home in the Twin Cities and a cabin near Minong, Wisconsin.

“We go through there all the time and I get an ice cream cone,” said Johnson. “When I started (RiverWest) I just went in and asked them if they would be willing to provide cheese and they said: ‘Why don’t we just do a store?’”

Swan said the co-op has been looking for opportunities to expand its retail operations. She said Duluth — which greets more than 5 million visitors annually — made for an attractive location. “We think it would be really great for us to get into a new location that is already heavily visited,” she said. “They’re really doing a nice job of building up that (Spirit Mountain) area, so it looked like a nice fit for us.”

Johnson called landing the store for RiverWest a “homerun.” He said the store is expected to draw 20,000 to 30,000 visitors a month from all over the Duluth area. The dairy store and recently opened Ski Hut Adventure Center will serve as the project retail anchors.

The new Ski Hut Adventure Center is located adjacent to the Burnett Dairy Cooperative retail store on Grand Avenue below Spirit Mountain.

“It’s a major, major thing for us,” said Johnson. “People are very excited that we’re creating something like this for West Duluth.”

RiverWest, a mixed use development between Spirit Mountain and the St. Louis River, has been in the planning stages for almost 15 years. The project broke ground in 2020. In addition to the new retail space, 20 homes have been built with 20 more in the works. Plans for a hotel and approximately 200 apartments are on hold as interest rates remain high, Johnson said.

Johnson said the first set of 20 newly constructed homes are being used primarily for vacation rentals. He said the second phase of 20 homes are being purchased as seasonal properties. Phase three homes will be smaller and lower priced in an effort to attract singles and empty nesters looking to downsize.

“They tend to be outside, active people. They come for the trails and that kind of thing,” he said.

The Munger Trail runs through the RiverWest development. Spirit Mountain with winter skiing and a summer mountain bike park is across Grand Avenue. The city has discussed a St. Louis River paddle park called Kayak Bay nest to the RiverWest project.

Johnson said RiverWest hopes to add 70 houses to Duluth over the next three years.

“I just sold one over the weekend to somebody moving from Woodbury with their family,” he said. “They’re just excited to live there. It’s fun. We’re doing OK.”

A cow statue similar to this one — located outside the Alpha, Wisconsin retail store — will be installed at the new Duluth store. Customers will be asked to name the cow.