Now and Then - Henry Patrick's Store

Pictures show the grand

opening of

Rico's Food Center

after the old store

was torn

down and the new one

opened. On the

left

is Rico

Calarese

holding up the first

dollar taken in at

the opening.

Now and Then - Henry Patrick's Store/Rico's Food Center

Henry Patrick, whose father, Delano, was a member of the

Hopedale Community

,

started

his grocery businesss in Hopedale

in 1867. He eventually had two stores;

one in the center

of town and

one at the corner of Route 16 and Hopedale Street

.

(Patrick's Corner) The store

in the center, shown in the top s

everal

pictures, was

bought

by Rico Calarese in 1956, and

operated under the name, The Food Center.

After

using the old building for some years,

Rico built a new store behind it. When it

was

completed, the original store was razed to

make room for a parking lot. The

picture

just above those that show the grand opening of the new store

was taken by

Hopedale historian Winogene

Noyes during the brief time

when the new building

was nearly finished, but before the old

one was torn down.

Some years later the

store closed, and the structure was converted into

an office

building, as seen in the

picture at the bottom.

At the election in November of 1970, breaking with a tradition that went back to the

days of

the Hopedale Community, the town voted to allow the sale of wine and beer.

In March 1971, a package store was

added to the Food Center.

Alcohol in Hopedale

Now and Then Menu

Milford Daily News, 1956

Milford Daily News
March 16, 1966