Two Toledo businesses, Cyndi Philbrook’s Farmers Insurance agency and the new Toledo Cheese Depot, will celebrate their grand openings with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, April 1 at noon.
Philbrook’s new office, 205 Cowlitz St., is directly across the street from her previous office where she operated for 14 years. Toledo Cheese Depot, founded by Kyle and Matt Wheeler, will open next door at 209 Cowlitz St.
Philbrook said she expects between 30 and 50 people to attend the event to support both businesses. She purchased the new building in October in order to acquire more space for her agency, as a recent hire was forced to work in an old break room at the previous location.
Philbrook’s agency offers financial services and insurance for automobiles, homes, life, businesses, boats, and more.
Her agency will take over a historic mercantile building downtown that was built in the early 1900s and has housed a variety of shops over the years, including a quilting shop, a shake shop, a chiropractor and an attorney.
“Most old timers here in Toledo recall it as being a shake shop where people would come and sit at the bar and there was ice cream,” Philbrook said, adding that the new building is about 200 square feet bigger than her previous location.
Philbrook was hopeful that the office space next door would soon house another local business as there isn’t much commercial space in Toledo. Kyle Wheeler reached out to her weeks before the 209 Cowlitz St. office was finished with some minor renovations with his idea to open a cheese shop, she said.
Toledo Cheese Depot offers a selection of cheese and cheese accompaniments for snack boards, gift baskets and more. The Wheelers moved to the area in 2016 and came to appreciate Toledo’s annual Cheese Days Festival.
According to the business’s website, the Wheelers were inspired by seeing the kids of the community make their annual return to celebrate Toledo’s beloved cheese carnival, some of them with lives decades and continents away.
“The Wheelers joked that one day there needed to be a cheesy little store that would not only honor Toledo’s local history but would also provide a curated selection of delicious cheeses everyone yearns for long after the cheese factories Toledo’s annual celebration were based upon closed their doors,” their website states.
