TUE–FRI 11–6 · SAT 10–4 · SUN+MON CLOSED · (616) 884-5570 · THE GOUDA LIFE
Cheese Platters & Catering About Classes Visit Shop Online
Downtown Rockford · Since 2017

Over a hundred cheeses, cut to order — and a free sample of nearly all of them.

Step off Bridge Street into a room of wheels and rinds. We slice it fresh off the wheel, hand you a taste, and help you find the one you didn't know you were looking for.

Shop the Square store
A round wooden board piled with sliced cheeses, prosciutto and cured meats, grapes, almonds, cornichons, and berry jam.
The Rockford Cheese Shop storefront on Bridge Street with its round hanging sign and a staffer holding a wedge of cheese.
What this place is

A small, owner-led counter where the cheese is cut to order, the sampling is free, and someone behind the case actually wants to talk you through it. Over a hundred imported and domestic cheeses, the charcuterie and accompaniments to go with them, and platters built by hand for whatever you're gathering for.

The counter · cut to order See everything we carry
A round charcuterie platter.
Grazing tables & custom platters

Let us build the board.

Parties, weddings, the Friday you didn't feel like cooking — tell us the occasion and the headcount and we'll put together a platter or a full grazing table for it.

Plan a platter
The Rockford Cheese Shop storefront at golden hour — blue glass-block facade, yellow door, and the round hanging sign.
Meet Heather

She left corporate America for a room full of cheese.

Heather Baehre spent fifteen-plus years in corporate America and two years living in Europe, where she fell for the wine-and-cheese way of life. When a 2017 layoff finally gave her the push, she opened the shop she'd been dreaming about for over a decade.

"I have had this dream for over 12 years, but was too scared to leave corporate America and take the risk."
Read Heather's story
Learn the cheese

Three ways to get into it.

01 · public & private

Cheese & Wine Pairing

The classic. We pour, we slice, and we talk about why a cabernet loves a hard, dry cheese.

02 · public & private

Cheese 101

The grand tour of the case — milk types, styles, and how to taste your way through a hundred-plus cheeses.

03 · public & private

Platter Making

Build a board that looks as good as it eats. Learn the layout cheesemongers use every day.

4.9 ★

~123 reviews on Yelp

"Wow what a gem — knowledgeable staff, wonderful cheeses, and other accompaniments to a great charcuterie board."

— Yelp review

"Absolutely lovely cheese shop!"

— Yelp review