Dive Brief:
- Roche Bros.' new small-concept store will be called Brothers Marketplace. The up-market concept will speciaize in artisanal products and prepared foods.
- The first Brothers Marketplace will be a 9,000 square foot store located in the former Lord's Department store in downtown Medfield, Ma. Lord's was a cultural icon in the town until it closed earlier this year. One wall of the new Brothers Marketplace will feature a mural of Lord's in the 1950s.
- Details about the new format -- the inclusion of a lunch counter, a Grab 'N Go area of prepared foods, etc. -- emerged in local planning board meeting.
Dive Insight:
There's probably much to be said in praise of Brothers Marketplace, but the thing that struck us the most was that mural of the former department store. There's something sort of touching about a retailer paying homage to another retailer's history. We understand the sentiment -- we remember Lord's. And it was what made Medfield, Medfield. Still, the mural marks the sort of classy gesture we wish we saw more of when one store closes and another appears.
And we're willing to bet that Roche Bros. will do something similar when it opens in the former location of the ultimate retail landmark in Boston -- Filene's.