How Brothers Market in Davis Square will look.

By Gabriela C. Martinez

A public meeting was held last Thursday to discuss the opening of a Brothers Marketplace in the old Social Security Office located in Davis 240, Elm Street. In the meeting, residents had the opportunity to ask questions about the products offered, learn about the store’s construction process, and the delivery schedule for vendors.

The market will occupy the first floor and the basement of the building, with the intent of incorporating the existing Dunkin’ Donuts as a store-within-a-store. The second floor will be occupied by Crunch fitness center. As for the non-profit and for-profit tenants of Davis 240 – including the Boylston Chess Club – they are allowed to remain, but have to move within the basement. The construction will take a year, with the gym and the grocery store opening in the fall of 2015.

According to John “Jack” Connolly, Vice President-At-Large of the Board of Aldermen, most of the members of the community who attended the meeting at 6:00 p.m. – seventy in total – expressed widespread support for the market and seemed enthusiastic about the prospect having a high-end grocery store so close to their neighborhoods.

For Alderman Jack Connolly, there are many advantages to opening a Brothers Marketplace in Davis Square: “Brothers Marketplace is a true grocery store that people can walk, bike or bus to. It is located close to neighborhoods in Somerville and Cambridge. It fills a void not in existence for over 20 years (having a real grocery store). It will provide more local jobs and farmer market vendors will have a place to sell their goods in the winter. Also, Roche Bros. is an experienced grocer who has already opened similar businesses in the greater Boston area,” said Mr. Connolly. For the Davis community, the construction of Brothers Marketplace in Davis Square means that residents will no longer have to travel to Porter in order to buy the week’s groceries.

Although they were generally supportive, the residents who attended the meeting raised issues about the logistics of deliveries and loading. For now, the plan is to arrange deliveries on Chester Street and use the existing metered parking spaces as loading zones during certain hours of the day. There were also general concerns about customer parking, which has always been a recurring issue in Davis 240 Elm Street. In 2010, the Social Security Administration decided to move their office in Davis 240 to another location in Cambridge that had better parking facilities. Instead of investing the construction of parking spaces, Roche Bros. staff is actively appealing to their future customers to walk, bike, or use public transportation.

There were also concerns about how smaller grocery stores, such as McKinnon’s market, are going to compete with Roche supermarket store-chain. According to the Roche Bros Market staff, “The store will not be a direct competitor for McKinnon’s market, since it will offer different choices for shoppers, and will be another possible resource for the customers of Davis Square merchants.”

Brothers Marketplace is a high-end grocery store owned by Roche Bros., a regional grocery store chain that has existed since 1952. The store focuses mainly on organic products and regional artisan products, as well as brand-name staple products. The market also tries to buy from local producers as much as possible.