Roche Bros. cries foul over alcohol license

The planned Westwood Station development is to include Wegmans, which wants to sell wine. (Photo by Tom Herde for the Boston Globe/file 2007)

Shoppers at Roche Bros. in Westwood in recent weeks have been getting a personal message from the owner, asking them to remember their old supermarket come Town Meeting day.

Rick Roche is campaigning against a proposal that would grant a new, rival supermarket in Westwood Station the town's first license to sell beer and wine for off-premise consumption. Voters will decide on the proposal at Monday's Town Meeting.

Roche said in a letter to town voters that the proposal would give an unfair competitive advantange to the proposed new supermarket, Wegmans.

Roche Bros. on Washington Street, doing business in town for almost 40 years, doesn't have a liquor license. Neither do any other stores in Westwood.

"Westwood is a dry town, so we never thought it was a possibility," Roche said.

Wegmans is a key element in the massive, yet-to-be-built Westwood Station de velopment. But the deal is not yet sealed; Wegmans officials say getting the liquor license is a "major factor" in making a final decision to open a store in Westwood.

Over the past several years, Westwood has cautiously been more open to allowing certain establishments to sell alcohol on the premises - such as restaurants - but did not consider granting an off-premise license until Wegmans asked for it.

Town officials, who back the new license for Wegmans, say approvals have always been tied to economic development. Westwood Station is a mixed-use development of residential units and commercial space that supporters hope will provide new jobs and tax revenue for this cash-strapped town.

But critics say businesses interested in Westwood Station are getting unfair consideration.

"We should recognize that this is not fair play, and that it would give a big competitive advantage to one new food store in town at the expense of other long-standing local businesses," Roche wrote in a letter, titled "To My Fellow Citizens of Westwood," that he has been handing out to residents at his grocery store and posting on local websites.

"To enact a law for a narrow private interest is discriminatory and just plain unfair."

With its first proposed move into New England, Wegmans has quickly become the main attraction for Westwood Station. The New York-based company specializes in fresh products and groceries, and hot foods and spices that are not typical supermarket fare. Chefs on hand help recommend bottles of wine for certain foods.

It was only a few years ago that the town started allowing the sale of alcohol, but at restaurants only. Resident David Feyler has tried for years to get a license to open a wine shop, but each time town officials told him Westwood would keep to its original plan to restrict the sale of alcohol to restaurants serving food.

Feyler is now among those who believe that granting the off-premise license to Wegmans would be selling out to Westwood Station's promise of new tax revenue and redevelopment, without consideration for existing businesses in town.

"They're snubbing their nose at residents; they're snubbing their nose at Roche Bros.," Feyler said.

Roche Bros. was initially asked to move into Westwood Station, Roche acknowledges, but he said he never considered that the move could include the right to sell alcohol because of the town's existing ban.

Roche acknowledges that he never pursued a license in Westwood. He has three other stores in Massachusetts that sell alcohol, and under Massachusetts law, a grocery store is limited to three alcohol licenses in the state.

Roche said he would consider stopping the sale of alcohol at another store if it meant having a license in Westwood to compete against Wegmans. But he said that would be unfair, too, and that the town shouldn't be basing its decisions on whether to sell alcohol just to accommodate Wegmans.

Jay Doherty, president of the Westwood Station development team, Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, said voters shouldn't be swayed by Roche's concerns of fairness because the state already dictates how grocery stores can sell alcohol. He said, too, that Wegmans shouldn't be held back because Roche never sought a license.

Doherty also said that competition for supermarkets is a regional issue, not just a town issue, and pointed out that a supermarket being built in Dedham will be allowed to sell alcohol and will be closer to Roche Bros. than Westwood Station would be.

Doherty said that Wegmans would be a key component to the overall Westwood Station project, serving as a co-anchor with Target. It would give residents and employees of local businesses a "high-quality" place to shop for food and other items, or to lunch at one of its cafes or sit-down restaurants, he said. The store has tea bars, fresh bakeries, salad bars, and buffets.

"This is the highest quality retailer that would be a good fit for the project," he said.

He said that town officials have long called for a unique tenant for Westwood Station, and that Wegmans would fulfill that role.

"What are we giving that up for?" he asked. "So Roche Bros. could feel good?"

Milton J. Valencia can be reached at valencia@globe.com.