Monday Is Last Day For Circus Liquors In Its Old Rt. 35 Home

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — At 8 p.m. Monday, Circus Wines Beer & Spirits will close up shop forever at their location on a small hill overlooking Rt. 35, where they've been in business for 30 years.

They will reopen at 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 31, in their new home 1.5 miles down the road, in Middletown Plaza (1453 Rt. 35), and two doors down from the new Middletown Trader Joe's.

The liquor store is having a special 30-percent off sale on all booze inventory before their move.

However, the iconic Circus liquors landmark, Calico "the evil clown" will not be following Circus liquors to its new home, a store employee said Monday.

Instead, the latest news is "Clerks" filmmaker Kevin Smith is trying to buy the evil clown from the Scaduto family, which owns all the Circus liquor locations in Monmouth County. Maybe we'll one day see Calico outside Smith's comic book memorabilia store, Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash, in Red Bank, or perched on the roof of Smodcastle Cinemas, the Atlantic Highlands movie theater he also now owns.

Smith is a Monmouth County native: He was born in Red Bank and graduated from Henry Hudson Regional High School in Highlands. He wrote and produced '90s cult hit "Clerks" from the original Quick Stop convenience store in Middletown's Leonardo section. The movie was based on Smith's experience working at the convenience store as a teen.

In 2021, Smith left Hollywood and returned to the area where he grew up. He briefly operated a podcast theater 58 Leonard Ave., only a few feet away from the original Quick Stop and filmed "Clerks III" (Jason Mewes, Rosario Dawson) back at the same Quick Stop.

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