BONELLI’S MARKET Wildwood’s original old world market

Bonelli’s Market has been serving customers at Spencer & Pacific since 1940. If you need a newspaper, a quart of milk, some fresh Jersey corn, a made-toorder hoagie, or a roasted bbq chicken for dinner, you will find it at Bonelli’s. Early in the morning, before the store opens at 7am, Richard Bonelli is in the store, accepting food deliveries. He prepares his displays of fresh produce and meats, checks the shelves and begins his daily schedule.

Richard graduated from Wildwood High, then Lafayette College in 1963 after which his original intent was a career in the arts, maybe even acting. But his father, who owned the market, became ill and died in 1969 and left the business to his son. You can see Richard’s creativity in the artistic displays and also the food art on the walls, which he painted in 1994.

Richard’s father, John Bonelli, also a graduate of Wildwood High, in 1929, had opened a butcher shop just across the street from the present market. His family, all the way back to the Middle Ages, were meat-cutters in Formia, Italy. In 1940, the A&P across the street was vacated, so John moved in and turned the spot into a state-of-the-art grocery. “It was a pioneer market in its day,” says Richard. A Wildwood Leader ad that announced the opening of Bonelli’s Market advertised eggs at 33¢ a dozen and steak at 59¢ a pound. “Compared to today’s prices,” says Richard, “That means if steak is $8.39 a pound, then eggs should be about $4.67 a dozen.” Richard’s son Jonathan, also a graduate of Wildwood High and of culinary school, joined his father and has built a thriving lunch & take out food business. The Newark Star Ledger in 2000 named the Old World Hoagie at Bonelli’s the top in New Jersey.

While you are waiting in line for your take-out food, you will notice classical music playing – unless there is a Phillies game being played! The conversation of those in line usually centers around the quality of the food and how often they come to Bonelli’s.

As we go to press with this issue, Richard Bonelli is battling throat cancer. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. We honor him with this story about his family market that he worked so hard at and was so proud of.

Richard Bonelli, an artist who fell into the family business, sets up a produce display.
The store as it looks today, and how it was in 1960. (photo Wildwood Historical Society) A Bonelli business has been continuously operated in Wildwood for almost 80 years.