Roche Bros.
Opened: 2007
Welcome to our first Roche Brothers! The chain, based in a Boston suburb, operates 20 stores in eastern Massachusetts under the Roche Brothers, Sudbury Farms, and Brothers Marketplace banners. Their stores tend to lean upscale, with Roche Brothers generally being large, full supermarkets, Brothers Marketplace the smaller-format gourmet-focused locations, and Sudbury Farms in-between. At least I think so -- I've never actually been to a Sudbury Farms. We'll see a few of their stores, which tend to be really nice and impeccably-run. A side note here: as of earlier this month, the Roche family has sold majority ownership in the chain to the owners of the Connecticut-based wholesaler Bozzuto's. At the time I visited this store (and the subsequent Roche Bros we'll see), they were still owned by the Roche family.
The roughly 45,000 square foot store opened in 2007 in a new-build development replacing an industrial building. I believe it's been renovated once since its opening, or if it hasn't, it's been kept up unbelievably well. I don't believe it's gotten the latest decor package yet, but this decor is still looking spectacular.
When I visited a couple years ago, the RB Roasters coffee shop in the front corner hadn't opened yet (or was closed for the coronavirus?).
So to tour the supermarket, the grand aisle is on the left side, with produce in the front part, then deli, seafood, and cheese in an island to the right, and prepared foods, seafood, and butcher on the outside wall. Meat lines the rest of the back wall, with frozen and dairy on the right side.
As you can see, the store is beautiful. I love the atrium here -- it's a great touch.
Behind produce, the rest of the grand aisle is set up in a really beautiful layout with the service counters lining the outside of the area, with rows of self-service fresh foods in the middle.
Prepared foods to the left, and bakery at the back...
The butcher department, which is enormous and very beautiful, is to the right of the bakery. Deli is opposite in the island...
And the rest of the meat department lines the back wall.
There's an upscale setup in the grocery aisles, too, with these street sign-inspired endcap displays.
These days, Roche Brothers is supplied by Topco and uses Food Club, Full Circle (natural/organic), and Simply Done (nonfoods) products, but I believe in the past they've been supplied by Bozzuto's.
The aisles are divided in half front-to-back with the street sign aisle markers making an appearance again.
The selection angles upscale, but it's definitely a full supermarket, including a full selection of HABA. I don't believe any of the Roche Bros locations have pharmacies.
Frozen foods begin here in the second-to-last aisle, then continue down the last aisle.
I love the large windows here on the side wall of the store.
As we can see, even 15 years after the store opened, it's been kept up nearly perfectly across the board.
And a look across the front-end...
Opened: 2007
Owner: Michael Bozzuto
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: none
Location: 1100 Union St, Westborough, MA
Photographed: October 23, 2021
This is a very beautiful Roche Brothers, but they're all quite nice. We'll see a few more shortly, but in the meantime, let's visit out last store of the Boroughs, a small general store in Southborough, tomorrow!
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