Roche Bros. - West Roxbury, MA

Roche Bros.

Opened: 2002

Owner: Michael Bozzuto

Previous Tenants: unknown

Cooperative: none

Location: 1800 Centre St, West Roxbury, MA

Photographed: July 28, 2019

Welcome to our next Roche Brothers, a gourmet supermarket of just under 50,000 square feet. We're in the far southwestern part of Boston here, just half a mile away from the city limits. (This store is approximately where the X in W. Roxbury is on the map above.) It was constructed as a new-build store in 2002, then extensively renovated around 2018. I visited in the summer of 2019, and it was my mission that summer to photograph every supermarket in the city of Boston. Well, I succeeded, and this was the last supermarket in the city that I visited.

You can already tell it's going to be a nice store from the outside. Although the outside hasn't been changed since its opening, it still looks upscale and inviting. It's set back from the main street of West Roxbury, Centre Street, and although it was a new-build store not that long ago, it sits on a property once occupied by an A&P in the 1940s. (Thanks, Groceteria.)

Roche Brothers, which is now majority-owned by Connecticut-based wholesaler Bozzuto's, has long used these unusual carts that fold up vertically when not in use. (They also have more typical carts, which you'll see as we tour the store.)

And this is what they look like unfolded...

I visited shortly after the major 2018 remodel, and the store was looking pretty spectacular. There are two Roche Brothers in Boston proper, and the other is right in downtown -- much newer than this store, but opened around the time this one was remodeled so they have the same decor package and general setup.

The extensive grand aisle is on the left side of the store. Customer service and floral are between the entrance and exit, which you can see below, and the rest of the fresh departments line the left side of the store.

An expansive produce department is the centerpiece of the grand aisle, with islands for prepared foods, bakery, and cheese. A cafe and coffee shop are in the front-left corner, with deli and more prepared foods lining the left-side wall. Large meat and seafood counters are in the back-left corner of the store. Packaged meats and dairy line the back wall of the store, with the rest of dairy and frozen on the far right side.

The flooring looks like it's polished concrete, but it's not. It's actually large dark gray vinyl tiles.

The grand aisle is serious here, with numerous islands with full-service counters. In the front is this Fresh + Ready counter with prepared foods, and behind it is the bakery in another island. Self-service prepared foods line the front of the grand aisle, with the cafe behind it and the coffee shop visible with the red wall in the front-left corner.

You can see the design here is absolutely first-rate. It's also very clear that this is an upscale food shopping experience.

Cheese and bakery islands behind prepared foods.

And the service deli is on the left-side wall, and although it looks a bit small don't forget all the prepared foods are in separate counters. There's still a lot to offer here.

Service seafood and butcher counters are up next on the back wall.

Bozzuto's acquired Roche Brothers in 2024, and as far as I can tell there haven't been any significant changes. Bozzuto's has long been Roche Brothers' supplier, so there's a lot of consistency.

I must say I love the tile backsplash here behind seafood. It's very bold and colorful, which could be overwhelming but because the rest of the store is fairly neutral, it's a welcome splash of color.

Looking up towards the front of the grand aisle. You can see the wonderful lighting above the cafe and floral department in these pictures.

And as we transition into the grocery aisles, packaged meats line the back wall.

The first aisle is the beer and wine department.

The decor continues to be exciting here on the back wall even though we're out of the grand aisle. Still, you can tell the remodel here was more decals than extensive work like the grand aisle. Here's a look inside the store before the remodel.

Roche Brothers has their own brand for a few items, but the majority of their private label products these days are Food Club and Full Circle from Topco, distributed via Bozzuto's.

Like the seafood wall, I love this pop of color. It's not overwhelming but a great feature wall.

It looks like most of the fixtures outside of the grand aisle are probably original to the store. This refrigeration and freezers look like they are older than 2018, but I'm not totally sure.

Notice that the ceiling switches from drop ceiling tiles back to the higher exposed ceiling in the last few aisles.

Frozen foods continue onto part of the front wall, with the registers to the right in the below picture.

Fascinating aisle markers here, that hang over the shelves, not the walkways. I've only seen that in a handful of stores.

And a look across the front-end back towards the grand aisle...

This is a pretty spectacular store and it seems to be very well-used. Both based on my observations and traffic data from Placer.ai, it's the higher-volume of the two supermarkets here in West Roxbury. We'll check out the other one tomorrow!