Roche Bros. grocery proposed for 240 Elm Street; Meeting September 10

[ron_newman]

According to a Facebook post from Alderman-at-Large Jack Connolly, Roche Bros. proposes to open a grocery store in the former Social Security Building, 240 Elm Street. They will hold an on-site meeting to discuss this on Wednesday, September 10 at 6 pm.

Roche Bros. is a local family-owned supermarket chain whose current locations are mostly in the beyond-128 suburbs. They are now building their first urban store in the former Filene's Basement space in Downtown Crossing.

I really hope this happens. I think it suits Davis Square's needs better than the previous World of Beer and Beer Works proposals.

ETA: Based on the illustration that Jack provided, what they actually seem to be proposing is a new sub-brand of smaller Roche stores called "Brothers Marketplace", whose first location opened in Weston a few months ago. Their Facebook page is more informative than their rather skeletal website.

Comments

[smacaski.livejournal.com]

My mom shops at a Roche Bros. nearish her home--she much prefers it to Shaw's and Stop&Shop, both of which are closer to her. The prices and quality (particularly of the produce) are both superior. So, I'd be pleased if a Roche opened up around here.

I expect they're assuming that many customers would have their own carts and/or use buses to carry things home, and wouldn't need much parking. I'm not sure how likely that would be--it'd be true for me, but I'm not buying an entire family's worth of groceries each week.