Rybicki Cheese was a staple Mall of America store since December 5th, 1992 when Dick and Jan Rybicki moved their shop from Plover / Stevens Point Wisconsin. In 2007, the MoA store location was passed down to their daughter Carrie Rybicki and her son Bob Weinfurter of Prescott Wi. Weinfurter started working in his grandparents’shop when he was only 10 years old, which means cheese really does run in his blood and Rybicki joined the family business when her parents retired. Prior, Rybicki worked in a variety of retail positions.

Things were obviously going well at the Mall of America, they had customers from all over the US that would stop specifically to see them at their store. Then 2020 hit. Sadly, the fate of Rybicki Cheese was quickly written when the Mall had to close for a few months. Initially, they had hoped to weather the storm by selling products in the Hastings Farmers market this past summer. Unfortunately, with the high cost of rent at MoA, those few months of no retail sales at a normally high traffic mall, and the low traffic volume due to COVID restriction and fears when the mall reopened, all combined for a financial blow that forced them to sell, which ultimately led to the dissolving of Rybicki Cheese. Yes, Rybicki Cheese became another COVID Casualty.

The good news is the farmers market success showed there is still a demand for their type of business. “We built up a good customer base from the farmers market,” Weinfurter said. Which is why Hastings was a logical location to set up shop.

That customer base, their knowledge of the business, contacts in the industry and a love of cheese was enough for Weinfurter and Rybicki to want to continue their family legacy in the cheese business, and Legacy Cheese was born. They are in the process of remodeling a 2200 square foot space previously occupied by Power Within Chiropractic at Westview Mall that will feature roughly 1700+ square feet of retail space. They received the keys to the new shop on October 31st and the plan was to be open December first. Some minor delays have pushed that back about a week. “Mainly, it’s waiting for the flooring guy and inspections,” Weinfurter quipped.

The space at Westview mall is almost three times larger than what they had at Mall of America and will cost them much less to operate monthly. They kept a small portion of the layout that Power Within had, mainly the restroom and they will use as an office and storage, the rest was cleared out for their own plan. They installed a small kitchen area that will have a viewing window. The viewing window will allow shoppers to watch the repackaging process and there is a plan to have a bench that kids can climb up on to enhance their view.

Even though they have a small kitchen setup, the store will not produce any food products. “Nothing made here. We will be cutting and packaging in back from bulk pieces to smaller packages,” Weinfurter said.

While cheese will be their focus, this is not just a cheese store, “We will carry some Packers stuff and some Vikings stuff,” Weinfurter pointed out, “We’ll also have sausage and other meats.”

“We are working with a local restaurant to get some precooked meals you can pick up, take home and microwave,” Rybicki added, “This location will give us opportunities that we didn’t have with the smaller space.”

“We are going to try to focus on Wisconsin and Minnesota made products,” Rybicki said. Products like salsa made in River Falls Wisconsin and of course, Ellsworth cheese curds.

Before leaving, they gave me a sample of some cheese curds they will be carrying. I have never made my own deep-fried cheese curds with breading, so that led to another conversation. How do I make these into deep-fried goodness? “Fish batter is a good start,” Weinfurter said.

“Just make sure you freeze them after you batter them, that way the cheese doesn’t melt out before the batter is cooked,” explained Rybicki. “or just eat the cheese as it is now,” she added.

Further proof they know their cheeses and how to best use them. Oh, I gave some to my mom and she did just that, ate it as is. Her comment? “This cheese is AWESOME!”

For additional information on Legacy Cheese in Hastings, visit www.legacycheese.com or find them on Facebook by searching for Legacy Cheese.