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Roche Bros. begins transforming West Roxbury store from suburban feel to South Endish

New Roche Bros.

You can't beat their meat. Rendering from Roche Bros.

Roche Bros. has begun a redo of its Centre Street store to make it more like its trendier Downtown Crossing store - with more prepared-food and seafood options and a floral area right off the main entrance, rather than a few rows in.

Already, the bottle and can return has been temporarily moved outside and the bakery, flowers and customer service moved to temporary areas to make way for the renovations:

Shut Roche Bros. bakery

A chain spokeswoman says the store should be "substantially done" in time for the pre-Thanksgiving shopping rush, and that the store is not getting rid of any of the basics it now carries. She adds the bottle and can return will be moved back inside.

The new Roche Bros.
The new Roche Bros.
The new Roche Bros.
The new Roche Bros.

One thing that won't be changing is the name. Although the store has recently been using paper bags marked "Brothers Marketplace" instead of "Roche Bros.," the spokeswoman says that was just a logistical mistake - the store got sent a shipment of bags that should have gone to the smaller Brothers Marketplace stores the chain runs in Weston and Medfield.

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Comments

So are they really becoming a market place? Will you be able to go to various stalls and haggle for the prices of products possibly playing vendors quotes against each other?

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Maybe I will on Monday. Given that the downtown store is still Roche Bros., I suspect "Brothers Marketplace" refers to the prepared-foods area.

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There's one in Weston and another in Medfield. We were supposed to get a third one in Davis Square, but Roche pulled out and instead we got a bfresh, built on approximately the same plan that Roche had proposed.

Website: http://Brothers-Marketplace.com

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say "can't beat their meat"?

Sincerely,
A 12-year-old boy

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^^^ From the Department of Pedantry Department. Harrumph, harrumph!

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"She adds the bottle and can return will be moved back inside."

Place looks nice but I'm surprised they would want the bottle and can return inside. The containers returned can be very dirty (bugs, rodents) not to mention keeping it outside would free up floor space. The stores that I frequent that have moved the redemption machines "reverse vending" outside love it, as do the scavengers who collect the cans, since they are out of the way of shoppers. Interesting decision.

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You think Roche Bros. customers are going to want to stand outside in winter returning their cans? They'd have to build an enclosure of some sort, and they don't really have wide enough sidewalks for that.

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How many cans is your average Roche Brothers customer (shopper) returning as opposed to the hardy homeless and Asian seniors who are returning hundreds at a time for sustenance but can't afford to buy anything inside? I think it would be a win/win as it has proven elsewhere. It's not the North Pole, a Roche Bros. shopper can return his six pack or 24 pack in about 30 seconds without getting a chill while the professional can collectors are outside collecting in all kinds of weather. The cold wouldn't phase them. A friend who owns liquor stores says the outside redemption machines were the best thing he has ever done. Must you quibble with everything I write?

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People with that many cans go to the redemption center on Washington Street in Roslindale.

I wasn't quibbling with you, I was trying to explain why it makes sense for Roche Bros. to bring the redemption machines inside, speaking as somebody who shops there from time to time (like this morning, actually) - just like I know where people who have shopping carts full of cans go if they're in Roslindale or even West Roxbury (don't ask me about JP; I couldn't tell you). It's the same reason I even wrote about a store remodel - because I'm from that area and realize how integral that particular store is to the surrounding neighborhood, in a way that probably a remodel of the Star Market at the other end of the neighborhood wouldn't be.

I mean, there are other markets in that area that have their machines separate from the stores, such as Stop & Shops in general - but they all have them in areas that are heated in winter.

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Roche Bros could put bottle return machines outside to the far left of the door. Right now there are usually only extra carriages or sometimes a produce display set up in that area. If someone has a lot of cans to return, they could go to Macy's where there is an indoor redemption center.

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Star Market in Porter Square has it, so does Market Basket in Somerville, so does the new bfresh in Davis Square. I thought it was pretty universal by now.

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Isn't that the name of their branch in Weston?

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Yes, it is.

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Looks like they are expanding their inventory ...

(kidding, I know the sign in the photo is truncated)

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   IMAGE(https://elmercatdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/a-roche.jpg)
       ( woman spends lots of time just standing and looking disappointed )
   IMAGE(https://elmercatdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/b-roche.jpg)
       ( man roams all over store, but never puts anything in cart ——
                  —— lady in back seems more interested in man behind counter )

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Based on some (not the majority) of the comments it seems as if some of their notorious Misinthrops have migrated to UH - Hey folks it was an article about Howie - he's not writing for the Hub - you can go back to you group therapy site and resume bashing any and all things that are different or offend your 1950s sensibilities

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Can I assume your comment was meant for the discussion about the radio host and the Senate candidate, rather than this one about the new look at a local supermarket?

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the layout changes caused by the addition of the beer and wine, they go and change the layout again.

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have not found everything since the beer and wine aisle addition. Sigh.

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Is it just me or are the caricatures of young, white (one Asian?) women shopping in the spiked heels, sleeveless shirts, Daisy Dukes shorts, sundress and tight pants a little odd? Two of them could be Giselle.

My local Roche Bros. is much more diverse in the age, race, gender and appearance category. Weird.

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That is what I prefer to see!

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Around the world what supermarkets, markets, grocery stores are the very best?... for example, Milan has a supermarket acclaimed for its interactive displays! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLBsZs0VpGI

From time to time changing around the aisles' foods that are next to oneanother in a supermarket can be a good thing. Shoppers see new displays and get new ideas selecting foods for their meals.

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"Those are some fancy ceilings in the rendering! I wonder what the ceilings look like now?"

(Scans article again)

***Never look up at the grocery store***

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When we had normal (not super-sized) supermarkets, where you could easily find ABC, get your shit, and get out. Now, every kind of shopping is a hassle. Supermarkets overall, with exceptions, are way to large (obviously designed to keep consumers in the store as long as possible, and engage in impulse shopping). Same with drug stores, they have become monstrosities.

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... and we liked it!

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That poor girl in the top photo looks like she needs to eat more meat!

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Hopefully they don't pass on the construction costs to their customers. RBs is just as expensive as WFs now - the only difference is that RBs has sales.

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The store is keeping its name. Turns out those "Brothers Marketplace" bags were sent there by mistake, instead of to the smaller Brothers Marketplace stores the chain runs in Weston and Medfield.

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