Roche Bros. Building Flagship Store

Roche Bros. has begun construction on its 25,000-square-foot flagship supermarket at the Millennium Tower/Burnham Building in Boston's Downtown Crossing. The first large-scale grocery store to be built in Downtown Crossing, the location will serve the growing residential neighborhood first initiated by Millennium Partners. The new store is scheduled to open in early 2015.

“Roche Bros.' roots are deeply embedded in Boston, beginning with our first store opening in Roslindale in 1952,” said Gary Pfeil, president of Wellesley, Mass.-based Roche Bros. “As a second-generation, locally owned and operated family company, we are so proud to be a part of revitalizing the Downtown Crossing neighborhood and the redevelopment of such an iconic building. Nearly every Roche Bros. associate has memories of shopping in Filene’s Basement, and we are all so energized to serve the community through our new flagship location in downtown Boston.”

The new flagship supermarket will feature 3,000 square feet of street level retail and 22,000 square feet in the historic Filene's Basement. At the new location, Roche Bros. will offer neighborhood residents, commuters, local businesses and tourists a curated assortment of merchandise suited to the unique needs of the downtown customer, from prepared food, flowers and artisan cheeses to household basics.

In recognition of the store’s central location on the most heavily trafficked corner in Boston, the first floor will feature an extensive offering of convenient, ready-to-eat meals, snacks and prepared foods from Roche Bros.’ own kitchen. Other departments will include deli, specialty cheese, bakery, floral, grocery, frozen, dairy, produce, meat and seafood. The location will also offer home delivery and full-service catering.

Leading Roche Bros.’ efforts to provide customers with just the right assortment of merchandise at Downtown Crossing are the newly appointed Brian Buckley, senior director of perishables, and Jerry Cedrone, senior director of nonperishables. These new roles were created to ensure an innovative and on-target product offering for the flagship store.

Roche Bros. has engaged Boston-based Suffolk Construction as general contractor for the project. BHDP, based in Cincinnati, was responsible for the conceptual development, creating a look and feel that reflects both the Roche Bros. brand and the unique neighborhood. Roche Bros. is also working with its long-standing partner, Tolland, Conn.-based Plan B, on the layout, mechanicals, engineering design and engineering construction management.

The renovation of the Burnham Building, originally completed in 1912 for Filene’s Department Store and the only structure in Boston designed by legendary Chicago architect Daniel Burnham (1846-1912), began in summer 2013.