Di Bruno Bros. Is Opening a Bottle Shop in the Italian Market

“Last time I checked, wine goes great with cheese,” says Bill Mignucci Jr. of Di Bruno Bros., the gourmet grocery chain that started out as a cheese shop in Philadelphia’s historic Italian Market. That original cheese shop still stands, and just a couple doors down Mignucci and crew are opening the market’s only bottle shop.

Set at the corner of Ninth and Montrose, Ninth Street Bottle Shop will open in October as a place to buy bottles of craft beer and wine, order off a short food menu, and stock up on holiday gifts; next year, look for it to expand into a small version of Di Bruno’s’ new Rittenhouse restaurant, Alimentari.

“Our roots are in the Italian Market, and we’re interested in the continued evolution of the market. Not having a place to buy a bottle of wine is a huge void we want to fill,” says Mignucci, who is president of the company. His grandfather and great-uncle, Danny and Joe Di Bruno, opened their cheese shop 80 years ago in what later became known as the Italian Market, a South Philly shopping corridor that dates back to the 1880s and bills itself as the oldest continuously operating open-air market in the country.

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“Now, if you want wine you’re going to South Street, to Whole Foods, and you just do all your shopping there. With the bottle shop, you’ll be able to fill your bag right in the Italian Market — bread, cheese, meats, produce, and also pick up a bottle of vino,” Mignucci says.

They’re calling the bottle shop a “pop-up” for now and filling it with the best sellers from Di Bruno’s 1730 Chestnut Street and 834 Chestnut Street shops, where the selection is curated by Sande Friedman, who also heads up Philly Wine Week. A few wines and beers will be available by the glass and there will be cheese, charcuterie, antipasto, and paninis to eat onsite, partially to stay within Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board regulations. Grab-and-go sandwiches and salads will be sold there too.

It’s a snug space but there’s room for about 30 seats indoors and on the sidewalk: “You’ll be bumping elbows, but we think it will be full of energy,” Mignucci says.

Rachel Vigoda

“In 2020, we’ll reformat it to be a permanent store where you can eat as well as buy alcohol. We’re thinking of it as a micro-Alimentari,” Mignucci says, referring to the new restaurant that opened upstairs at Di Bruno’s big, bi-level, always-bustling Rittenhouse location earlier this month with sandwiches, salads, Roman-style pizza, small plates like meatballs with whipped ricotta and roasted branzino with fregola and pine nuts, and alcohol.

Gab Bonghi

Di Bruno has owned the bottle shop’s building, at 920 S. Ninth Street, for a while. They opened it as as Pronto, a prepared-foods extension of the brand, in 2000. That closed in 2008 while the family turned its focus to other locations.

Di Bruno also owns a lot across Montrose (it’s the one beneath the infamous Frank Rizzo mural). Mugnicci envisions that as a community-gathering spot for movie nights, barbecues, maybe a pop-up beer garden — all part of the evolution of the area he wants to see.

“Throughout its history, the Italian Market has been a multicultural market, a place for immigrants to pursue their American dream. It’s a cost-effective business corridor — rents aren’t as expensive. It’s wonderful, and it has its own character that I think should always be maintained. But it’s not growing,” he says. “It needs to evolve to be competitive.”

Pending licensing, the Ninth Street Bottle Shop should open the first week in October.

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