The first Empire Cheese Factory was built in the late 1870s on the farm of John Haig who was the first cheesemaker. The second cheese factory was built just to the east of the present factory. Some of the cheese makers in that plant were Tom Naylor, Charles Stephens, Jack Kitchen, Bob Maybee, and Les Shillinglaw. In the fall of 1952 the Kimberley Cheese Factory burned and in 1953 Empire and Kimberley amalgamated forming the current Empire Cheese & Butter Co-op. That same year, the current cheese factory was built with Les Shillinglaw as the cheese maker. Les was followed by Don Pollock. Our current cheese maker is Mark Erwin.
I have been going there since I was a little girl. My bus passed ot daily. Although I have moved away my family and I make a point of visiting everytime we pass it.Read more
The Truckle Cheese Company is home to our ever more popular range of award winning products including our farmhouse cheese truckles, chutney for cheeses, traditional pate terrines, our delicious onion marmalade biscuits and new to our range is the fantastic home cheese making kits.
The Ricotta Lasagna is very good. Great taste. The stuffed peppers with sausage meat are the best. But you only get 3 halves per package. Roman Cheese products are easy to prepare and great tasting. Read more
Tried the Roman shepherd pie and were pleasantly surprised. Add a bit more spice and you will have winner here. What other products does Roman have to offer? We are seniors new to the prepared food offering since we have decided to stop cooking.Read more
We carry over 400 different varieties of cheese. Availability may vary. We focus heavily on local and Canadian cheeses especially artisan, but a large part of our inventory is made up of cheeses from around the world. We offer international cheeses that are exclusive to Cheese Shoppe on Locke and we work closely with local wineries to offer wine and cheese parings.