Downtown Boston Roche Bros.: Just in case Wellesley store aisles get too busy

April 14, 2015 by Bob Brown

Downtown Crossing Roche Bros. — Rendering via Roche Bros.

Wellesley-based Roche Bros., is cranking up the hype over its new downtown crossing Boston store, which opens April 29 at the restored Burnham Building, including in space formerly occupied by Filene’s Basement.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony that morning will be followed by a day of outdoor food sampling and a country band performance during the early evening.

Roche Bros., promises “fresh food, favorite national grocery brands, local artisan finds, New England flavors and a wide selection of creative prepared foods” at the 25,000-sq.ft. market at 8 Summer St. So, for those of you who work in or visit Boston, you’ll have access to Roche Bros., home and away.

Terrazza Church Square opens in Wellesley

September 23, 2014 by Deborah Brown

Retail shops are opening for business at a steady clip here in town, the latest being Terrazza Church Square, a gallery featuring fine arts and crafts created by North American artisans, in the corner spot next to The Clift Collection. With the addition of Terrazza, all 14 storefronts in Church Square currently are filled with paying renters, ready to do business. The shop that holds the record for longevity is, of course, E.A. Davis, at its Washington St. location since the early 1920s. You can find a list of all stores in that area here.

When I stopped in, Terrazza was brimming with an autumnal feel and some tasteful Halloween decor (no blood-dripping, wild-eyed mannequins here), along with hand-crafted jewelry, blown glass items, serving pieces, hand-carved wooden bowls and utensils, and more. For now, some shoppers wander in and wonder if the The Gifted Hand has come back to life. Those comments should subside once the owner replaces the old sign with the new and handcrafts the shop’s identity, one customer at a time.

In other retail news:

North River Outfitter opens in Wellesley

A few facts about Florijn

Beer & wine for sale at Wellesley Roche Bros.

Wellesley’s Roche Bros. breaks ground on towering Boston store

June 30, 2014 by Bob Brown

Millennium Tower Boston — artist’s rendering of the tower

Wellesley-based grocer Roche Bros., has announced that it has broken ground on a supermarket that will both sit street level at the 60-story Millennium Tower rising in Boston’s Downtown Crossing as well as in the old Filene’s Basement space.

At 25,000 square feet, the new store will be smaller than the Wellesley Roche Bros. supermarket, but it will serve a potentially huge customer base, between those who work and visit downtown and those who occupy the hundreds of luxury condos that will fill much of the Tower. So no, Market Basket didn’t have much of a shot at this spot.

Roche Bros., will offer prepared food, flowers and the usual supermarket fare at its new store. (No mention in the Roche Bros., press release of the store offering booze, as it is readying to do in Wellesley.)