24 March, 2015
Colella's Supermarket was a landmark in Hopkinton and was one of the favorite local spots in town by many. If you're a local in Hopkinton chances are you visited Colella's and saw someone you knew. Colella's closed in March after about 70 years of service. Owner Dale Danahy and the Colella's staff have helped or provided lot space to over 30 Hopkinton organizations including the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Hopkinton Fire Department, Hopkinton Police Association and the 300th anniversary committee. (See more organizations Colella's helped here: http://www.colellas.com/community.html).
Colella's recently sold to Waltham based Crosspoint Associates for $3.3 million marking the official end of an era in Hopkinton. Dale Danahy was recently honored and recognized for her community involvement at the School Committee Meeting. Member Jean Bertschmann gave an emotional tribute; "you've worked so hard as a member of the community to support the chamber of commerce, to support so many organizations... get the school's into better compliance for people with physical disabilities." Bertschmann summarized Colella's relationship with the community perfectly; "Colella's really set the gold standard as a model of a family business, run by a family that includes the entire town in their family."
Dale Danahy spoke of the memories of seeing the community socializing in Colella's "it was great to see your neighbors shopping, when people didn't see their neighbors in the neighborhood but you would see them shopping." Despite Colella's closing Dale still plans on being a part of the Hopkinton community and supporting local organizations; "I will continue being in the town as a volunteer, I intend to go to the senior center, project just because, hang out at the library and read books that I have boxes of that I never had the time to do, do some traveling, I'm not going anywhere i'll still be around town." Danahy also stated that they tried to count how much money they donated to the community and that they stopped counting after they got over $1,000,000.
To see the tribute check out the video.
