In the 1930s, Frank Donatelli allowed customers to stop in and pick up grocery items they needed from Donatelli’s Italian Food Center on Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield – without paying. They could give him money later. “My grandfather started accounts for Italian immigrants,” said his grandson Russell Donatelli.
“They paid what they could when they could. I remember some accounts were still set up in the 1960s. My grandfather helped a lot of people in this community.” The late Frank Donatelli started the business in 1932. His son, the late Paul Donatelli Sr., and his wife Doris – parents of Russell Donatelli, Paul Donatelli Jr., Alan Donatelli and daughters Darla Donatelli and Deborah Salac continued the legacy. They all worked there at one time.
