Bottles by Sickles booted from Red Bank, lawsuits pile up against closed supermarket

RED BANK - With more than $92,000 owed in back rent, Metrovation, the owner of the Anderson Building on Monmouth Street, has started the process to evict Bottles by Sickles, a liquor store connected to the now-closed Sickles Market.

Bottles by Sickles, under a corporate entity TST Beverages LLC, was the subject of a landlord-tenant hearing in state Superior Court on April 11. According to court papers, a store representative did not attend the hearing, so the court entered a default judgment in favor of the landlord.

On April 18, Metrovation filed for a "Commercial Warrant of Removal," a part of the eviction process. The certification states that $92,275 in back rent is owed. As of Monday, court records did not indicate that the warrant, or eviction notice, had been signed and served by a court officer, a requirement for any eviction.

On Monday, a hand-written sign on the door at Bottles by Sickles read "Closed Today." The BOttles by Sickles name is no longer on the building's main sign or store directory. Sickles owner Robert Sickles could not be reached for comment.

See the eviction legal documents at the bottom of this story.

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Bottles by Sickles, which opened in 2019 , is the last remaining store associated with Sickles Market, a family-owned business with deep roots in Monmouth County. Sickles Market closed its Red Bank store , a location open for nearly four years, in February.

On March 11, its landmark store in Little Silver, founded in 1908, abruptly shut its doors for good . Bottles has remained open.

In an interview following the closure of the Little Silver store, owner Bob Sickles Jr. blamed the store's woes on the poor performance of Sickles Market's 2020 expansion into Red Bank's West Side, the COVID lockdown and its aftermath for the company's troubles. The Red Bank store "wasn't good for us," he said.

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Metrovation, which restored and remodeled the former Anderson Moving & Storage building and leased the ground floor to Sickles as its anchor tenant, filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court on March 1 over the closure of the Red Bank store. It said it is owed more than $324,000 in back rent and late fees, according to court papers.

Since it closed, Sickles Market's legal troubles have worsened, as the stores' suppliers have filed lawsuits against the company and Bob Sickles Jr. for over tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills.

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Holiday Meats of New Jersey, which is based in Little Silver, said it is owed $116,845 in unpaid charges that date back to October 2023, according to court papers. "Payment has been demanded and no payment has been made," states the lawsuit. It was filed on March 18.

Performance Food Group Inc., Elizabeth, has filed a lawsuit against Sickles Market and Sickles Red Bank over a total of nearly $80,392 in unpaid bills, according to court papers. Plus, the company also wants Sickles to pay $20,098 for its legal costs, the lawsuit states.

World's Best Cheeses of Armonk, New York, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Sickles Market over $31,446 in unpaid bills.

Food Merchants of Brooklyn also filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Sickles Market and Sickles Red Bank, seeking $8,705 for unpaid bills and attorney's fees.

Metrovation unsigned eviction notice on Bottles by Sickles by Dennis Carmody on Scribd

Bottles by Sickles eviction approval by Dennis Carmody on Scribd

David P. Willis, an award-winning business writer, has covered business, retail, real estate and consumer news at the Asbury Park Press for 25 years. He writes APP.com's What's Going There column and can be reached at dwillis@gannettnj.com. Please sign up for his weekly newsletter and join his What's Going There page on Facebook for updates.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bottles by Sickles booted from Red Bank, lawsuits pile up against closed supermarket