Fond Memories of Bud’s Market
Mario “Bud” Zuccato
Longtime residents of Stone Harbor fondly recall Bud’s Market, located at 83rd Street and Ocean Drive, and its kindly proprietor, Mario “Bud” Zuccato.
The story of Bud’s Market and the Zuccato family stretches back several decades and over three generations.
It all began in 1922, when Mario and Ida Zuccato arrived in Stone Harbor. Eight years later, the couple opened a small store on 83rd Street named Zuccato’s Market. Upon Mario’s passing in 1933, Ida took the reins of the operation, and it became well-known in town for its outstanding homemade Italian fare.
In 1945, Ida’s son, Mario “Bud” Zuccato, returned home to Stone Harbor after serving in the Navy during World War II, and the torch was passed. In 1950, Bud met his future wife, Harriet Dillon, who had moved to Wildwood from Trenton, in Tampa, Fla., where both had been vacationing.
The following year, they married, and embarked upon 59 years of marriage, which included three children – Rick, Michael and Donna – and numerous grandchildren. Bud and Harriet opened a larger store right across from Zuccato’s Market, christened it Bud’s Market, and worked side by side for nearly the next five decades. The couple were inseparable.
Bud’s Market filled a need for Stone Harbor residents and vacationers with its fresh meats, deli products, vegetables, fruit, and bread, saving customers a longer trip into Cape May Court House. An advertisement from the June 10, 1981 Cape May County Herald announced that the store was “Open for the Season - 8 am Daily” and was located “Where Stone Harbor and Avalon MEAT!”
Another ad, placed a month later, showed Bud’s Market’s “Penny Pincher Specials.” One pound of Dubuque Hickey Smoked Beef Franks was on sale for $1.49, while a dozen medium-size eggs was only 65 cents.
Bud is remembered not only for his kindness and sunny disposition, but his acumen as a butcher and the quality meats he would sell. It was thought that Zuccato’s outlook later in life was shaped by the harrowing experiences he had during the war, including being caught briefly below deck in 1945 when a Japanese kamikaze pilot dived into his destroyer, the USS Thatcher, which was located southwest of Okinawa.
“Uncle Bud built Bud’s Market when I was 6 years old,” said his niece, Sandi Scionti. “He didn’t want us kids to be playing in the store, so my grandmother would give me little jobs to do so I could stay inside with her. Sometimes she had me arrange the fruit to look like pyramids and, as I got older, I was allowed to stock the shelves. I was friends with the milk man, the candy man, the cookie salesman and the bread man.”
Scionti remembers the sights and smells of the store, including the fresh Italian torpedo rolls that were delivered in huge brown bags and placed at the front checkout.
“A great thrill for my cousins and me was seeing the Oscar Mayer Wiener truck as it drove into the store’s back parking lot,” she said. “Sometimes we were allowed to climb onto the hot dog-shaped vehicle while the sales reps were inside talking to Uncle Bud. We usually received a wiener whistle from Little Oscar before his departure.”
Scionti said that while hot dogs were purchased from Oscar Mayer, the lunch meats and cheeses were hand-sliced.
“We children were not permitted near the slicer,” she said. “Since my grandmother sliced one of her fingers years before, she was adamant about the slicer rule.”
Scionti remembers roller-skating in the store, which was frowned upon by her grandmother, and also falling and hitting her head on the edge of one of the shelves while running in the aisles. She sustained a deep gash above an eye that required stitches.
“I was ultimately left with a scar in the eyebrow, which over the years caused me much frustration when putting on makeup,” she said. “At the same time, it has always kept alive my memories of Bud’s Market.”
Even at the end of their lives, Bud and Harriet found a way to be together. In 2009, Bud passed away at age 86; two days later, Harriet followed him at age 87. They had spent their final months in their home under hospice care.
Now it’s Bud’s Fresh Market
The name is still (sort of) the same, but since taking ownership of Bud’s Market in 2011, Carl Jablonski has put his own distinctive stamp on the decades-old business.
Jablonski, the former CEO of Acme Markets, renamed the store Bud’s Fresh Market and paired it with Avalon Seafood, which he also owns, to offer Seven Mile Beach residents and vacationers a wide selection of organic and natural foods.
In an interview shortly before the store’s grand opening in May 2011, Jablonski said he decided to honor its long history by keeping the Bud’s name, stating that Stone Harbor would continue “to benefit from a store that caters to its needs.”
At Bud’s Fresh Market, located on 83rd Street and Third Avenue, shoppers can still find the high-quality hand-cut meats that were the hallmark of the Zuccato family, but with an added bonus of organic meats and poultry.
As many of today’s consumers prefer to shop at chains such as Whole Foods and Wegman’s, Jablonski’s idea was to make Bud’s Fresh Market a similar experience, but on a smaller scale.
After sprucing up the building, Jablonski stocked the shelves with gourmet foods, locally grown organic fruits and vegetables, homemade salsas, soups, and dips, and a wide variety of cheeses.
The takeout menu includes made-to-order breakfast sandwiches (the Bud’s Big Breakfast Sandwich is a favorite), hoagies, hot and cold sandwiches, and burgers. Bud’s Fresh Market also offers a catering service that includes sandwich and hoagie trays, snack trays with fruit and cheese, wrap trays, and vegetable trays with dips.
Bud’s Fresh Market is open from 8am-8pm daily, and can be reached at 609-796-5694.
