Hannah Kaminker
The Daily Californian — After years of hard work, The Cheese Board Collective reopened its bakery and cheese shop Friday.
The Cheese Board Collective has been planning to expand to the neighboring storefront for years. After purchasing the building in 2023, partially closing the original location in January and utilizing a storage unit this past month during renovations, the Cheese Board’s new space is now ready for the public.
“The space really needed a facelift and some revitalization, especially since we have this great parklet built. This is awesome and this really transformed the space,” said worker-owner Natalie Luney. “It looks more amazing than I had anticipated.”
The Cheese Board Collective, located at 1504 Shattuck Ave., is significantly larger than the original location, with three aisles for checkout set up for optimal purchasing of muffins and scones. An express line just for coffee sits to the left, in the space interwoven with display tables of local goods, including granola, gourmet beans and a large variety of cheeses.
One of the hurdles facing the shop is the way customers are navigating the lines and the new space, Luney said, adding that they are still working out the flow of the store and urge customers to be patient.
“We need to train our customers in each iteration of the store,” Luney said.
On Tuesday, the lines were out the door for both the original and new locations. Around noon, more than 80 people stood waiting in line, eating food outside, chatting and enjoying live music.
The Cheese Board’s add-on introduces a new “pasta program,” Luney shared, in which fresh pasta that is made in-house is sold frozen to customers. The Cheese Board is also currently in the middle of hiring, as the new location requires an increase in workers.
The renovations also added a second kitchen, including Heath Ceramics tiles to decorate counters, which required significant construction to the apartments above. According to Luney, the site was a “raw construction zone” for a long time.
Luney said patrons of the Cheese Board have been generally positive about the reopening and renovations. “It’s Berkeley, so everyone’s got an opinion.”
“It’s complicated,” said customer Joan Kay. “Because it was a folksy and jammed-up place and now it’s more modern.”
Kay, who has been going to the Cheese Board for 35 years, said she loves the second location, describing it as bright, airy, bigger and more relaxed.
Customer David Glass noted that he appreciated the efficiency of the lines in the second location, emphasizing the ease in purchasing a coffee without having to wait in line.
“We’re just happy to be finally open,” Luney said. “It’s been a really long (journey) to get to this point and so many people worked on it.”
