Roche Bros.
Opened: April 2015
If the Macy's at Herald Square is New York's most famous department store, and Marshall Field's was Chicago's, in Boston it was Filene's. The department store chain went through several acquisitions and rebrands, and its Downtown Crossing location in Boston -- the largest, original, and flagship store -- became Filene's Basement, the first discount clothing store chain in the US. It finally closed in 2011. The discount store occupied the actual basement of the multi-story building, and while other parts of the department store are occupied by offices and a Primark, the basement today is a modern, upscale Roche Brothers.
Actually, the 30,000 square foot supermarket technically takes up two floors of the Downtown Crossing building. The ground floor functions as a grab-and-go cafe/convenience store, with a salad bar, hot food bar, pizza counter, and grab-and-go packaged prepared foods and beverages. There's then a set of escalators that take shoppers into the basement of the building, where the main supermarket is.
A note on these pictures: you'll see some of the deluxe prepared foods scaled down a bit, but that's not permanent. I was here on a Saturday night, which is far from peak time for the store. Because of the location in downtown Boston, its big business times are weekday lunches and after work.
You can already get a sense of the upscale presentation in the supermarket, so let's head down to the market!
This is much smaller than the other Roche Brothers locations I've visited, and also feels like more of a specialty market rather than a mainstream supermarket. Still, it is in fact a full supermarket, and there's an enormous amount of selection packed into the old Filene's Basement.
The supermarket is set up around the escalators, so we're going to make a circuit around the store and end up basically where we started. Produce is the first major department on the circuit, with another massive prepared foods island facing it.
There's no shortage of specialty foods counters here, despite the store's smaller size. And as you'll see, they're serious about the gourmet foods. Bulk foods are on the other side of the produce department, along with a "Chop Shop," where produce is cut to order.
You can see that many of the fixtures here are multi-tiered, allowing for maximum display. You definitely feel that you're in a basement, but it's a pleasant store.
Cheese and olives are up next. I love the design of the cheese shop. In fact, the design of this store overall is really first-rate.
In this corner of the store, we have a wine and beer department, with refrigerated items in the perimeter cases. The wall graphics here are understated but beautiful, and help the store feel very upscale.
If I remember correctly, the floral department is in an island between beer/wine and produce.
And over here, in the next corner, we have a very upscale selection of health and beauty items. The wall shelving and decor is phenomenal here too.
Dairy and frozen line the rest of the store's perimeter as we continue the circuit around the outside.
Even the grocery aisles feel upscale, with mood lighting (these pictures make the store feel darker than it actually is). The category markers are extremely well-done, too, and a good compromise since you don't have enough ceiling height here to hang them above the shelves.
Similarly, the aisle markers are mounted above the shelves, not the aisles themselves.
The store was still rather new when I visited, but having opened in 2015, it was about four years old, so not exactly brand-new. It goes without saying that Roche Brothers has maintained the store perfectly.
More higher-end selections in the grocery department, such as this wall of Stonewall Kitchen items, which come from York, ME.
As we circle back towards the produce department, we have this gorgeous wine display in an island opposite the grocery aisles.
And a catering desk, of course closed when I visited on a Saturday night...
As you can probably expect, you will pay for the upscale experience and selection here. Roche Brothers is one of the most expensive conventional supermarkets in New England, but here, you don't really mind because it's such a high-end experience overall.
As we return to the perishables department, we see the massive bakery island. The prep space is elsewhere -- and part of me wonders if perhaps because of this store's small space, the prep is done off-premises for the perishables departments -- but rows of self-service baked goods line the outside of the service counter in an island.
Deli, seafood, and butcher counters line the outside of this area, on the other side of the escalator from the produce department.
Here you can see the service case at the front of the bakery...
Sushi on the back of the Fresh & Ready prepared foods counter...
This counter faces the escalator as you descend into the supermarket.
The registers are set up in a somewhat unusual layout, in a style we more often see in urban Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, with one line and all of the registers in a line rather than separately with their own conveyor belts.
There's also a cafe in this area...
This was the best I could do on the front-end given that it was fairly busy even at the time I visited.
The half-door here, I believe, allows customers to leave the registers and go over to the cafe. This store also has an entrance directly to the T stop at Downtown Crossing...
Opened: April 2015
Owner: Michael Bozzuto
Previous Tenants: Filene's Department Store
Cooperative: none
Location: 8 Summer St, Boston, MA
Photographed: July 7, 2019 and July 20, 2019
And that's all for Downtown Boston! The neighborhood only has this one supermarket, and prior to this store's opening, there weren't any for years. Bigger picture, we did it -- we made it through Downtown Boston and the city center area! I think (having not counted) that I've now posted more than half the supermarkets in Boston, but there are still plenty left in the northern and western neighborhoods of the city. Come back tomorrow to see what's next!
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