You’ve Probably Driven Past Kingston’s Best Cheese Shop Without Knowing It
A little while back I came across one of Emma Sulley’s social posts and it stopped my scroll. She was sharing what was in the case at her Flight Cheese Shop, and it looked like the real deal. I made a mental note to check it out.
The problem was I could never find it. I drove past the strip mall on the south side of Princess Street near Bayridge more than once, looking for a sign, and came up empty every time.
I eventually did what many people do and wrote it off. Another small business that didn’t make it. As a fellow small business owner, my heart was broken.
Then one day I spotted a little sandwich board by the front door and everything clicked. Flight Cheese Shop is tucked inside Winexpert – Homecraft Brew & Wine, and if you didn’t know to look for it, you’d blow right past it every single time.
Here’s the thing though. Emma Sulley, the one-woman show behind Flight Cheese Shop, isn’t exactly losing sleep over it. She’s leaning into the vibe. “I do kind of enjoy the if-you-know-you-know hidden gem part of it,” she told me. And once you find her store, I am pretty sure you’ll feel the same way.
Why This Shop Matters to a Kingston Cheese Nerd
Full disclosure: I am not a cheese expert. I cannot tell you about microbial cultures or the finer points of cave aging.
What I can tell you is that I love artisan cheese enough to go looking for it. I have made the trip to L’Échoppe des Fromages in Saint-Lambert, wandered markets across Montreal and Quebec City, spent plenty of time at St. Lawrence Market and Kensington Market in Toronto, and I am a big fan of what Pan Chancho does right here in Kingston.
I walked into a strip mall on Princess Street, not expecting much, and came out genuinely impressed.
What Emma is doing in the West End fills a real gap for people who care about what is on their cheese board but don’t want to deal with downtown or make a day trip out of it.
Cheese, Beer, Craft Wine Kits, and 40 Years of Sulley Family History Under One Roof
The Flight Cheese Shop didn’t just land in this spot by accident. The space it calls home has been a West End fixture for a long time.
Emma’s grandfather, Joe Sulley, acquired what is now Winexpert – Homecraft Brew & Wine from a downtown location, moved it to 2789 Princess Street, and incorporated in 1984. Her father joined the business around 2000, and when Joe fully retired in 2016, he stepped in as President. Emma has worked there on and off her whole life, so when it came time to open her cheese shop, the location was a natural fit.
The two businesses make for an interesting pairing under one roof. You would think that craft wine makers would be natural customers for Emma’s cheese. Some of them are, and she is happy to see them wander over. But it has actually worked the other way around more often than not. She has converted more cheese lovers into wine kit makers than the reverse, which she finds equally delightful.
Still, the combination has a certain charm to it. Finish bottling your wine, grab a wedge of something spectacular, and you have got Friday night sorted. All in one stop, all in one strip mall that most of Kingston has no idea is hiding this much good stuff.
Big Box & The Cheesemonger’s Expert Curation in the West End
If your cheese routine starts and ends at Loblaws or Farm Boy, no judgment here. Both carry some solid staples and even a few from local producers. You’ll see me pick up some budget-friendly PC block and private labelled cheese, or grab some Oka, Sauvagine or Liberté now and then.
But here’s where Emma takes a different path. She actually keeps tabs on what the other stores around town carry, and then makes a deliberate effort to stock around them. With limited shelf space and a sharp eye for what’s worth bringing in, she fills her cases with cheeses that you probably won’t find locally.
That said, she’s not rigid about it. If a cheese is genuinely great and customers are asking for it, she’ll carry it. This isn’t about being contrarian, it’s about curation.
The other thing no grocery aisle can replicate is the person standing behind the counter. Emma takes obvious pride in being able to match the right cheese to the right person. She writes her own descriptions for every cheese in the shop, and if you tell her what you like, she will narrow it down for you. That kind of expertise doesn’t come with a loyalty points card.
35 Cheeses on a Tuesday. 90+ in December. And Sometimes a Waitlist.
Walk into Flight Cheese Shop on any given day and you will find somewhere between 35 and 45 different cheeses in the case. Not 35 types of cheddar. Thirty-five distinctly different cheeses, each one chosen with purpose. Come back in December and that number climbs past 90.
I have to give Le Saint-Just a personal shout-out. It’s an unbelievably rich, luxurious French variety that Emma brought in to fill a gap left by current European import restrictions, and it stopped me in my tracks the first time I tried it. She has brought it in twice now and it has been a hit both times. If you get the chance, don’t walk past it.
Then there are the fresh Italian cheeses. Burrata, Fior di Latte, Buffalo Mozzarella, flown in directly from Italy. The shelf life on these runs just two to four weeks from the date of production, so by the time they clear customs, get inspected, and land in Kingston, the window is short. Emma manages this by bringing them in less frequently to build demand, and keeping a list of customers who want to be notified the moment they arrive. If you want in on that list, ask her.
The range of what she carries, from a rare French import to fresh Italian cheese with a two-week clock on it, is genuinely impressive, let alone for a shop of this size in the West End of Kingston.
In-Flight Features: Taking the Fear Out of “Fancy” Cheese
Artisan cheese can feel intimidating. The names are unfamiliar, the price tags can sting, and committing to a large wedge of something you have never tried before is a genuine risk. Emma gets this, and she built a solution for it.
Her In-Flight Features tasting box is the perfect entry point for anyone who is curious but not quite ready to dive in headfirst. For a modest price you get six cheeses, 30 or 50 grams of each, along with a cheese map and descriptions that tell you what you are actually eating. No guesswork, no pretension, just a low-risk way to figure out what you love.
Emma’s suggestion is to star the ones you like and, just as importantly, try to put into words why you don’t like the ones that don’t land. That exercise turns a fun tasting into something genuinely useful. Next time you visit, she can take those notes and steer you toward something new that fits your taste.
This approach says a lot about how Emma thinks about her shop. She studied at culinary school, worked with the PC Cooking Schools, and has spent years developing a deep knowledge of cheese. She could easily make the whole thing feel exclusive and expert-only. Instead she has built everything around making it accessible to someone walking in for the very first time.
Her Charcuterie 101 workshops have been a hit, including two sold-out sessions she ran as part of Kingstonlicious 2026, Kingston’s city-wide culinary festival. She had to add extra dates just to keep up with demand. More are in the works as the warmer months roll in.
Pro Tip: Never Eat Artisan Cheese Straight from the Fridge. Here’s Why.
This one applies to pretty much any cheese worth eating, not just the fancy stuff. Take it out of the fridge and give it at least 30 to 60 minutes to come up to room temperature before you dig in. Maybe even warm it a bit, gently.
Here’s why it matters. Cheese is full of complex fats and aromatic compounds that are essentially locked up when cold. As it warms up, those fats soften and the flavours that make a good cheese worth eating actually wake up. Cold cheese is fine. Room temperature cheese is a whole different experience.
And here is something that surprises a lot of people. Cheese is an incredibly hearty food. Unlike meat or cooked vegetables, it doesn’t carry the same food safety risks when left out at room temperature. You have a lot more leeway with cheese than you might think, so don’t stress about those 60 minutes on the counter. Emma says so.
Emma’s Favorite Kingston Spot (Because Great Local Businesses Support Each Other)
Ask Emma about her favorite local spot and she does not hesitate. She points to Cravin’ at the Memorial Centre Farmers’ Market, a Kingston staple offering amazing comfort food, baked goods, and cooking classes for kids. It is the kind of place that feels like a natural kindred spirit to what Emma is building at Flight Cheese Shop.
The Kingston foodie scene, she will tell you, is a genuinely supportive one. Local businesses cheer each other on, send customers to each other, and collaborate whenever they can. Emma has already done a few of those collabs, and more are in the works throughout the year.
It is a good reminder that when you support one local business, you are usually supporting a whole network of people who are rooting for each other.
Explore Your New Favorite Cheese Shop
Flight Cheese Shop is at 2787- 2789 Princess St., inside Winexpert – Homecraft Brew & Wine.
Emma is there, ready to talk cheese, match you with something you did not know you were missing, and send you home with something that will make your weekend a little better.
Go say hello, and tell her Les sent you.
You can also find her at flightcheeseshop.com, and on Instagram and Facebook at @flightcheeseshop.
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