Cheese Board’s new flagship on Bluewaters Island blends architecture, storytelling, and the sensory experience of cheesemaking into a striking redefinition of retail
Cheese Board’s first independent store outside the Grandiose supermarket network
Cheese Board’s first independent store outside the Grandiose supermarket network

Cheese Board’s new flagship on Bluewaters Island is not a grocery store wearing theatrical lights. It’s a stage. Commissioned by Grandiose and reimagined by TwentyOne06, the 1,126 sq ft (104.6 sqm) interior translates cheesemaking into a rebranded architecture, materiality, and choreography – reframing product, pedagogy and retail into a single, sensory performance.

Not just a rebrand, it’s a supermarket-born concept transformed into a standalone cultural destination. It is Cheese Board’s first independent store outside the Grandiose supermarket network, designed to stand alone as a premium destination on Bluewaters Island. The ambition demanded more than identity work — it required an environment sophisticated enough for Dubai’s most cosmopolitan visitors, while still retaining accessibility and approachability.

This is a design-first project that treats cheese as the protagonist, design as the stagecraft, and the guest as an intentional audience. The outcome is a premium, approachable “Gallery of Taste” where rare wheels and humble wedges are displayed, explained and celebrated as cultural artifacts.

THE DESIGN BRIEF, DISTILLED

Grandiose asked for a step-change: elevate Cheese Board beyond the Cheeseroom model into Dubai’s definitive cheese destination — sophisticated, educational, commercially resilient and culturally resonant.

The brief demanded three intertwined ambitions:

  • Design that stages the product, makes cheese the visual and emotional centrepiece.
  • Experience that educates, convert curiosity into expertise through tasting, storytelling, and workshops.
  • Commercial strategy via design, increase dwell time, drive premium sales, and create repeat visitation.

    Operational targets informed design: cheese is the hero category (≈ 60% of sales; ≈ 70% of display), some cheeses are exclusive to Dubai, and displays must drive discovery and upsell — not by country of origin, but by story, profile and pairing.

THE SAMPLER (HISTORY & DISCOVERY)
An introductory tasting station where guests touch, taste, and hear the cheese story: aging, balance, texture, and provenance. This is intentionally intimate and didactic — education as invitation.

SYMPHONY OF FLAVORS (RETAIL & EDUCATION)
The main retail field: curated displays that read like compositional movements, highlighting flavor profiles and suggesting pairings (crackers, honey, jams). Displays are narrative-driven rather than cartographic; products are grouped to spark exploration and cross sales.

THE VAULT (CRAFTSMANSHIP & RARITY)
A gallery-like display for award-winning and rare cheeses. Here, lighting and plinths treat select products as collectible objects, commanding a higher price position and aspirational desire.

THE CURATION (IMMERSIVE PERSONALIZATION)
A one-on-one zone where connoisseurs guide customers to craft bespoke boards. This space is purposely human-scaled to foster ritual and personalization, the conversion point for loyalty and larger transactions.

THE PERFORMANCE (CUSTOMISED EXPERIENCE)
A one-on-one zone where connoisseurs guide customers to craft bespoke boards. This space is purposely human-scaled to foster ritual and personalization, the conversion point for loyalty and larger transactions

This sequencing is not decorative — it is behavioral design. Each act is calibrated to lengthen dwell time, increase conversion opportunity, and transform transactional visits into relationship-building experiences.

MATERIALITY AS BRANDED METAPHOR

Commissioned by Grandiose and reimagined by TwentyOne06, the 1,126 sq ft (104.6 sqm) interior translates cheesemaking into a rebranded architecture, materiality, and choreography

What makes the scheme convincing is its literal and abstract dialogue with cheese:

  • Raw stone and textured marble evoke the rugged rinds and porous aging surfaces of wheels, surfaces that carry time, micro-variation and history.
  • Warm wood veneers reference aging cellars and earthy terroirs, the grain patterns are read like veining in blue cheeses or concentric rings when a wheel is cut.
  • Sculptural blocks and pedestals mirror the geometry of wedges and wheels; products sit atop forms that feel more museum than supermarket.
  • String-inspired lighting, suspended, sinuous luminaires and surface-mounted fixtures, abstract the idea of pull and stringiness in cheese (think mozzarella or fondue) and translate it into elegant, overhead choreography.
  • Polished versus rough finishes stage the duality of cheese: fresh versus aged, delicate versus robust. The palette (creams, beiges, soft golds) is directly borrowed from the color spectrum of cheese, shaping an environment that “feels” edible.

Material notes from the fit-out include: 3D decorative plaster for the cheese bar (white plaster effect), brushed champagne metal bulkheads with cove lighting above displays, continuous wood veneer wall cladding, and upholstered swivel stools with footrests to encourage lingering tastings.

DISPLAY LOGIC AND COMMERCIAL THINKING

Crucially, the design is commercial by intent. The merchandising strategy, 70% display devoted to cheese, ensures that visual merchandising itself becomes the primary sales driver. Rotating premium showcases and The Vault create a cadence of scarcity and novelty that incentivises return visits. The Curation counter functions as an upsell engine: personalized boards, paired drinks and guided service increase average spend and deepen brand loyalty. This is design as business strategy: spatial sequencing encourages discovery, premium materiality justifies price, and intimate programming (tastings, workshops) converts customers into community.