Familiar Business on Highway-52 in Pine Island Closing

It had been the Pine Cheese Mart and is now the Von Klopp Brew Shop, but the familiar business on Highway-52 in Pine Island is closing its doors.

If you've driven to the Twin Cities on Highway-52, you've seen it. It's been a familiar landmark on the west side of that busy highway for YEARS in Pine Island. And now, it's closing its doors.

I'm talking, of course, about the chalet-style building that currently is home to the Von Klopp Brew Shop. It's just south of County Road-11 along Highway-52 in Pine Island. And, according to this Post-Bulletin story, its owners are closing the doors on the familiar shop on Friday, September 27th.

While the Von Klopp Brew Shop calls it home now, to me (and perhaps you too), that building will always be the Pine Cheese Shop. The very first time I drove south from the Twin Cities on Highway-52, I noticed that cute chalet, probably because I LOVE cheese. (I'm guessing that's the Wisconsin native in me coming out.)

And, the Cheese Shop chalet wasn't exactly a new-comer to that stretch of Highway-52: the current building has been standing on that location for over 50 years. (The story says it was constructed in 1965, replacing the original Cheese Mart building that had been on that spot since 1942!)

However, the cheese mart closed back in 2014 and the brew shop-- both owned by Wally and Susan Klopp-- had been housed in the chalet since then. And after running both for 55 years, the Klopps are set to retire and close the business in just a few days.

So what'll happen to that cute little chalet? The story says MnDOT has expressed an interest in purchasing it for a possible expansion of the highway in that area. Which is too bad. I'll miss seeing that familiar landmark on our trips up and down Highway-52.

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