Murray’s Cheese Shop on Bleecker Street, NYC is one of the country’s most beloved, oldest and best cheese shops. STS became part of Murray’s Cheese Team in 2004 when we were selected to design their new location. The new location was just across the street from where the +/- 900 sqft shop has been for over 80 yrs. The new location is 6,833 total sqft and Murray’s Cheese was looking forward to using every sqft.
Murray’s Cheese provide a wish list that included more cheese selling area, refrigeration service & self service cases, prepared food kitchen, affinage (the art of aging) cheese caves and a class room.
One of the amazing challenges STS faced was designing the aging cheese caves. French affineur consultant to provided the required parameters and information needed for the design of the traditional European cheese caves.
STS designed the cave structures from materials that would help maintain high humidity, durable and easy to clean. The concrete & brick arched ceiling were designed to prevent any moister from dripping on the cheese. The mechanical designs STS established are keys in the aging process. The refrigeration system was designed to maintain proper temperature and humidity control per cave. The ventilation system was meticulously designed to allow for the required air changes. STS became one of the first designers of operational cheese aging caves for a retailer in the U.S.
Custom mill-work was designed by STS to maximize space, provide display / storage behind the service area and give the store the interior feel Murray’s Cheese was looking for.
Shorty after the grand opening STS was asked to remodel the store because of the unexpected increase of customer flocking to the new location. STS added additional checkouts and modified the prepared food department.