Shop Talk: Jim Donovan of Donovan Glass

We were on our way to talk to Hassan Jarane, owner of – too busy overseeing the final stages of renovation for his gourmet goodies store’s long-anticipated upgrade from across Main Street – when Jim Donovan caught our attention with his caulk gun. This local glass guy from the shop around the corner was on a ladder installing the plate glass, as he’s done for most shops in town.

So buy local and go say hello to...

Jim Donovan, owner of 

1. Any relation to the plumbers?

JD: I’m the Donovan who’s not a plumber. They are my cousins. They call me Jim Glass.

2. How did you get into the glass business?

JD: I started washing windows. It’s a long story but I was washing the windows and an old timer here showed me how to cut glass. I didn’t want to step on any toes when I was going to open a business in town, but said as long as you don’t do auto glass, we’re good.

3. Can you point out which windows you’ve done here?

JD: Everyone. There’s hardly a commercial window in town that I haven’t touched. Our philosophy has kind of been to keep a five-mile radius. It’s good for me and it’s good for the area. If something goes wrong, we’re close enough to fix it. If people shop hard enough they can probably find a better price but they realize it’s not worth it.

4. Why Tarrytown?

JD: I grew up in Irvington. Been here for 30 years in Tarrytown. We live upstairs from the shop, a true mom and pop shop, and now my son is helping out too. People from other towns around here always talk about Tarrytown with a little bit of envy. We’re really the jewel of the Hudson.

5. Jarane seems to be making a point to hire local businesses?

JD: He's trying. Local people are trying to give him a big break. With these shops, restaurants, the Music Hall… people with money are coming here and they’re going to spend money on glass, and cheese. It goes beyond what we need to do for our own business; we all help each other.