Today’s installment of our local holiday shopping series takes us to Plum Plums Cheese on Cherry Street. The shop recently underwent a seamless change of ownership. On Thursday, we stopped in to chat with Jo Bloom, who has been operating Plum Plums with husband Stephen Bloom since just before Thanksgiving.
Here’s our conversation.
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New Canaanite: What was your thought in becoming the owner of Plum Plums in New Canaan, and how’s it going?
Panettone, a traditional holiday cake that people give at Christmas time. Plum Plums offers them in three flavors: orange and chocolate, cherry panettone and classic ($50). Credit: Michael Dinan
Jo Bloom: My husband and I had been looking for a local business. We’d had some experience with retail in New York City, and New Canaan is such a special community. We live just over the border in Darien. And when we came across Plum Plums and this amazing space with just the most beautiful cheese you’ve ever seen, we knew this was going to be our home. So we worked with the previous owners for a month-and-a-half to kind of make the transition seamless. And it’s just such an amazing community. We took it over right before Thanksgiving. We’re nuts to do that. But it’s just been so fun to be able to see everyone walking in the door and get to meet their families. And it’s right around the holiday time. So we get to have special cheeses and meats and goods on their tables.
‘Cheese’ is in the name of the business, but you guys have so much more here. For people who haven’t stopped in here, especially as far as holiday shopping goes, could you give us an idea of the range of what you have?
For the holidays, Plum Plums Cheese is offering a medium ($185) and large ($265) holiday themed platter featuring a selection of award-winning cheeses, hand-sliced meats, spiced nuts and dried fruit and other holiday accompaniments.
Generally we have between 75 and up to about 100 cheeses on our counter at any given time. We also do hand sliced meats, so charcuterie. Think prosciutto or really special jamon, bresaola—stuff that you can’t necessarily get hand-sliced in the grocery store. We also source really high-quality meats from Dellapietra’s in Brooklyn. So we’re the only place in Connecticut that they actually bring their meats to. They’re one of the biggest providers of the really nice restaurants in New York. So we have 80-day dry aged steaks. We have pork chops, we have lamb, we have all sorts of fun stuff. And then we have our other fine foods. So everything that goes with the gourmet experience, whether it’s artisan chocolates or beautiful truffle honeys and jams—we have all of that—and then décor. So we’re kind of your one stop shop for gourmet entertaining.
Brie a la truffe from France available only this time of year. A wheel of French Brie with a line of mascarpone and black truffle running down the middle ($85/lb), at Plum Plums Cheese on Cherry Street. Credit: Michael Dinan
Tell me about anything you’re doing now for the holidays, any specials or new products that you have in.
One thing that we always do around the holidays is really nice holiday platters. We do charcuterie platters. We pick four to five of our best holiday cheeses and hand sliced meats, and we do dried fruits and spiced nuts. and different types of dips. We’ll do platters around the holidays, both for Christmas and New Year’s, as well as for holiday parties. And then we get some special cheeses in for the holidays. My personal favorite is the Brie a la truffe, which is this beautiful wheel of brie and a line through the middle of it with mascarpone and a line of truffles. It is to die for. We have Spoonable Gorgonzola coming in, just some really special, amazing cheeses that make your holiday special.
Caviar Russe. Starting Dec. 9, Plum Plums will be carrying 50g Caviar Select, which will be $250. Credit: Michael Dinan
What has the foot traffic been like in the early part of this holiday season?
I would say Thanksgiving is our busy season, because we have lots of people coming in for the holidays. And then we’re starting to pick up for Christmas parties on the weekends, things like that. So it’s pretty consistent. I mean, it’s been busy.
I know this is your first holiday season here at the shop. New Canaan makes a big deal of the holidays with the lights and the Holiday Stroll. What’s it like being a business owner during the holiday season?
Nyakers gingersnaps, the most traditional Christmas gingersnap, from Sweden, in red gift tins or a little double box.
New Canaan is an amazingly special community. I have to say the Chamber of Commerce has been so welcoming and involves us in everything. We’re doing cheese boards for this weekend’s Holiday House Tour.
Plum Plums Cheese at 149 Cherry St. (on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter) is open Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 10-4. The shop will close at 2 p.m. on Dec. 24 and 31.