Roche Bros. meeting - quick summary

[ron_newman]

I went to last night's meeting about the proposed Roche Bros. store at 240 Elm Street (ex-Social Security building). Although I didn't take detailed notes, I'll summarize it here:

The grocery, a small-format store called 'Brothers Marketplace', will take up the entire first floor. The entrance will be at the corner of Elm and Chester streets. The store will emphasize produce and organic meat, buying from local producers as much as possible. There are two existing 'Brothers Marketplace' stores in Weston and Medfield, both opened within the past few months.

Dunkin Donuts will remain, but will move to the east side of the building and be integrated with the grocery store, sharing a seating area. The store will be built in such a way that Dunkin Donuts can, if they want, keep different hours from the grocery store.

The grocery store will also use about half of the basement for storage, food preparation, employee break rooms, and the like. Existing non-profit and for-profit office tenants in the basement (including the Boylston Chess Club) will be allowed to remain, or to return after construction is finished, but they may need to move within the basement.

Crunch Fitness will take up the entire second floor and part of the third (for their weight room). Davis Square Architects will remain in the other half of the third floor; they are designing this project.

The façade is a conservative design intended to retain the building's existing look, but adding more glass on the Chester Street side.

Construction will take about a year, with the grocery and gym opening in the fall of 2015.

Residents who attended the meeting were generally supportive, but raised issues about the logistics of deliveries and loading. The current plan is to have most deliveries on Chester Street, with current metered parking spaces becoming loading zones during certain hours (probably Monday-Saturday 7 am to 3 pm).

The Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, October 1 at 6 pm at City Hall.

Comments

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Sounds pretty much perfect to me, and way better than any of the previous suggestions.

[ron_newman]

I agree, and I think just about everyone in the room did as well.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I really like this idea.

Roche Bros

[mary388.livejournal.com]

The market makes sense for this space. I am also happy that they are using a local architect to design the space. I was not able to attend the meeting so thanks for the information, Ron.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a nice plan and a real asset to Davis Sq. Thanks for reporting on this.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

That looks like a great proposal. Thanks for telling us about it.

[puffy-wuffy.livejournal.com]

Hooray! I am very excited. I like Roche Bros in general.

[ron_newman]

Several people at the meeting said they had shopped at Roche Bros. stores in West Roxbury or other places, and were very happy with the experience. They are also good at supporting local organizations in the communities they serve.

[pixelsand.livejournal.com]

Sounds good but I wonder what this will mean for Pemberton down the road, a great asset for garden stuff and craft beer / liquor. Hopefully it won't impact their business too much.

[ron_newman]

Brothers Marketplace will not sell beer or wine or liquor, at least not initially. Roche Bros. holds five liquor licenses already, and that's the maximum the state currently allows for one owner.

ETA: according to this FAQ from the Mass. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (page 5, footnote 1):

As of January 1, 2016, this maximum number of licenses increases from five to seven, and as of January 1, 2020, the maximum number of licenses increases from seven to nine.

[pixelsand.livejournal.com]

Well I only mentioned the alcohol selection at Pemberton because it's a unique asset of that place, not because the new place will be competing there. My concern is that the new Roche Bros store will siphon grocery sales away from Pemberton, which might hurt the overall bottom line. I don't know how the economics work out for a place like that but I imagine the combination of a grocery store, liquor stop and garden stop is part of what allows Pemberton to make a profit (customers put up with their higher prices for convenience and quality). Introduce another option for grocery that sounds like it might be better and more convenient, and who knows what might happen.

[jducoeur]

Honestly, I don't expect that to be too bad. Pemberton's occupies a *very* high-level niche. Admittedly, I'm not exactly next door (I'm over near Broadway), but I've always gone to the routine supermarkets for routine stuff anyway. I go to Pemberton's for gourmet goods, and I don't really expect the Roche Bros to change that, because I doubt they'll be playing at that level. Yes, there will probably be a small impact from redirecting some of the really local business, but for a lot of us Pemberton's is a destination, and I don't think that will change.

I *do* think it will have a modest impact on Shaw's business. I can't say I'm going to shed any tears over that...

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think the existing business that is most in danger is the Italian grocery on Highland: http://www.yelp.com/biz/sessas-cold-cuts-and-italian-specialties-somerville-2

[katherine fiorello (from livejournal.com)]

I think Sessa's will be totally fine. Brothers Marketplace looks like they'll be carrying different products & looking into a different target audience. And I think the people that frequent Sessa's for their Italian goods will continue.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

Sessa's is the go-to place for people who want their canned and jarred food two years out of code, dusty and stale. I don't think that's the same market segment Roche's is hoping to serve. ;-)

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i was thinking mckinnon's, actually. it's right across the street and i bet there's going to be a lot of meat overlap with brothers marketplace.

[pixelsand.livejournal.com]

I dunno, the appeal of McKinnon's is that it's cheap, and Roche Bros sounds high end. I shop at McKinnon's cause I'm poor and I don't see too many yuppies in there. If I had more money to afford better meat, I'd probably go elsewhere.

[thedonk.livejournal.com]

As a fellow McKinnons shopper, I worry a little, but welcome the arrival of more and better produce in the square. McKinnon's produce leaves a lot to be desired. Perhaps the competition would allow them to expand upon the things they do well.

[ron_newman]

At the meeting, the Roche Bros. representatives addressed this question. They believe their meat offerings will be sufficiently different from McKinnon's (organic, grass-fed, etc) so as not to compete head-on.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

It could help McKinnnon's too. I used to shop at McKinnon's more back when Farmer's Bounty was still there and still sold good produce, because I could get all my shopping done in one block. Once I started having to go to Star for anything, then I ended up skipping McKinnon's altogether.