bfresh, whose parent company is Stop & Shop, is a great little chain that first started a few years ago in the Allston/Brighton area. Their newest location opened in Somerville in February 2017. Despite its size, it has a great selection of bulk staples, fresh breads, olives and package-free produce. It’s the perfect place to go to when you’re missing an ingredient for a dinner dish or need some basic bulk foods.
There’s a digital scale located in the bulk section that prints a barcode sticker for the bulk product you’re purchasing. Unfortunately there’s currently no way to subtract the weight of your own container before the sticker prints. I get around this by using my own cloth bags because they weigh the same as the plastic bulk bags anyway, or I bring in my own pre-weighed container and go through the cashier checkout where they can subtract the tare from my purchase. I’ve emailed bfresh about this scale/tare issue and they said they’re looking into it! Hopefully they update their scale system because then customers could tare their container, weigh their purchase, print a barcode sticker and check out in the self checkout independently. I usually have to wait a bit to find a cashier that knows how to subtract the tare from my items so it will be nice once I can do it all myself.
Their bakery section has a nice variety of both package-free and local breads. I usually bring my own cloth bag to put the bread and rolls in. There’s a weigh station next to it where you can print off a barcode sticker for the bread you’re purchasing, but I just tell the cashier the code for the bread I’m buying instead.
There’s even a bagel and pastry section of baked goods!
There is a very welcoming bring your own container sign near the bulk section. I’ve visited this location several times using my own containers and still have no idea what they mean by “personal card”.
They have a wall with different flavors of coffee (decaf and regular) and a few coffee grinders.
There are two kombucha kegerators with 8 different flavors on tap! You can bring in your own bottle or growler or purchase a new bottle in the store.
They have three different types of freshly ground nut butter, including almond, peanut and honey roasted peanut butter.
There are lots of grains, beans and baking ingredients to choose from on their main bulk shelf. My favorite items are natural mineral salt and chocolate chips.
Their snack/candy section is wonderful and includes a variety of dark chocolate covered nuts, jelly beans, gummy bears and fig bars. This would be a great place to stop by and grab package-free snacks before heading off to the movie theater.
bfresh carries lots of different nuts, trail mixes, a few different types of granola and toasted sesame sticks (my favorite).
The olive bar is my favorite section of the bfresh in Somerville. They have so many things to choose from!
The personal hygiene section has Burt’s Bees products and some organic cotton pads, but that is pretty much it. Other offerings include Nature’s Promise and Seventh Generation cleaning products, spices in glass containers, a salad bar, a hot food bar, fresh herbs and mostly package-free produce. Unfortunately bfresh doesn’t carry plastic-free mushrooms, reasonably priced/sized carrots or celery (these items seem to have become my requirements for what I consider to be a “good” package-free produce section).
PRODUCTS AVAILABLE AT THE somerville LOCATION:
- Bakery
- Baking
- Beans
- Candy
- Cleaning Products
- Coffee
- Dried Fruit
- Grains/Rice
- Granola
- Hot food bar
- Kombucha
- Nuts/Seeds
- Olive Bar
- Produce
- Salad Bar
- Snacks
- Spices (in glass containers)
This page was updated on 2/11/18.