The Best Cheese Counter in America? You'll Find It at This Grocery Store

When you think “world-class cheese counter,” your mind probably goes to a cozy little specialty shop with a bell on the door, not the same place you grab toilet paper and cereal. But according to cheesemongers, one of the very best cheese selections in the country isn’t hiding in a hip neighborhood market—it’s hanging out in plain sight, inside a major supermarket chain you’ve definitely shopped at before.

That chain? Kroger.

Since acquiring Murray’s Cheese back in 2017, Kroger has been leveling up its dairy aisle in a very big way. Murray’s, the iconic New York City cheese shop that first opened in Greenwich Village in 1962, now operates over 1,200 cheese counters inside Kroger and Kroger-owned stores nationwide. That means a grocery trip that includes milk, cereal, and paper towels can also land you a hunk of Jasper Hill, a wheel of Brie, or even a wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano that tastes like it came straight out of Italy.

And the best part? These aren’t your standard shrink-wrapped slices of cheddar. At Murray’s-run counters, you’ll find more than 150 specialty cheeses, many of them “hand-cut and wrapped by cheesemongers” daily, according to Gina Johnson, Murray’s director of specialty cheese, who told Food & Wine that “Training our staff is truly a central focus at Murray’s — mongers are well-versed about our products and can participate in our Red Jacket Training program, which takes their cheese mastery and our customer experience to the next level.”

Translation: you’re getting the knowledge, the passion, and the cave-aged funk of a Greenwich Village cheese shop—just in the middle of a Kroger.

Of course, we love a local indie cheese shop (who doesn’t?), but not everyone has one nearby, and let’s be real: they can be pricey. Sometimes you just want to grab your groceries and your Camembert in one swoop. Fortunately, Kroger’s cheese counters let you do exactly that without sacrificing quality.

Kubick, another Murray’s cheese insider, explained why Kroger’s counters are a game-changer: “you can find everything you need, like Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano, Swiss Gruyère, and French Brie styles.” And it doesn’t stop there—he adds, “There's also a fair amount of imports and varieties from creameries like Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont, Point Reyes in California, Beehive Cheese Company in Utah, and even Meredith Dairy in Australia.”

So what makes Kroger the supermarket cheese champion? It’s simple: accessibility meets expertise. Thanks to Murray’s, you’re not just buying cheese—you’re buying into decades of tradition, a little cave-aged magic, and the kind of variety that surprises even seasoned cheese lovers.