Sickles Sold Expensive Gift Cards Just Before Closing, Complaint Says

LITTLE SILVER, NJ — The legal complaints against Sickles Market do not stop coming.

The latest is that a former customer, a Monmouth Beach woman, has now filed a small claims complaint, saying Sickles sold her a $3,000 gift card weeks before the store abruptly shut down all locations.

Sickles Market closed their original Little Silver location last Monday, shutting down the family-owned upscale food market that had been in business for more than 100 years, since 1908. Three days later, Patch exclusively reported a Manhattan-based fruit vendor says Sickles owes them $26,000 for failing to pay for fruit deliveries. A former employee says Sickles hourly workers have not been paid since January. The owner of the Anderson building in Red Bank sued March 1, saying Sickles owes $324,000 in unpaid rent. Then on Monday of this week, market owner Bob Sickles, Jr. was sued by Little Silver-based Holiday Meats, with the meat purveyor saying he is owed more than $100,000.

The complaint was filed March 14 in Monmouth County Small Claims Court by a Monmouth Beach woman who said she shopped at his store for years. The woman says she was "induced" by either Sickles himself or store employees (she does not specify) to purchase a $3,000 gift card to his store, even though he knew his business was about to go under.

"On or before Jan. 9, 2024, defendant's business (Sickles) was on the verge of collapse," read her complaint. "This was not public information, but defendant knew it, or should have known. Nevertheless, defendant induced me to buy a $3,000 gift card (store credit) on that date, valid for future purchases. The amount, $3,000, is the approximate amount that I spend in defendant's business over the course of a year, as I have done for many years, to feed my family. Defendant knew this."

"Defendant never delivered an actual physical gift card, as paid for and promised," she continued. "Then on 15 February and 11 March 2024 defendant closed both places of business abruptly, without notice. The defendant took my year's money in full in January in full knowledge or expectation (they) could not deliver goods or services beyond a few weeks. Therefore, I seek judgement in the amount of $2,531.89, which is the unused balance in my gift card, which itself was never delivered."

A complaint in Small Claims Court is viewed as a lawsuit, and a trial date for the matter has been scheduled for May 3 in Judge Owen McCarthy's courtroom in Monmouth County Superior Court. Sickles has been asked to physically appear in court to tell his side of the story, or else the judge will rule in favor of the Monmouth Beach woman.

Sickles did not respond when Patch asked him for a response for this article.

Sickles gift cards were a status symbol

The Sickles gift cards are well known in this area. For years now, Sickles sold customers expensive gift cards at steep discounts: Sickles sold $10,000 gift cards at 20 percent off, so customers paid $8,000. He sold $5,000 gift cards for $4,200, $3,000 gift cards for $2,600, $1,000 gift cards for $875, $500 gift cards for $450 and a $250 gift card at $20 off.

One Rumson resident said the gift cards even became known as a sort of status symbol in this wealthy corner of New Jersey: "It was popular to ask people, 'Did you get your card from Sickles?'"

"This area is crazy," she added.

The gift cards cannot be used at Bottles by Sickles, their boutique liquor store and the only remaining vestige of the business now that their Red Bank and Little Silver stores are closed.

Patch has talked to residents stuck with multiple $1,000 Sickles gift cards. One woman posted on Facebook that she still has $4,000 left on a $5,000 gift card she purchased.

The Monmouth Beach woman filed the complaint on her own, without a lawyer's assistance. All lawsuits and Small Claims complaints are public record, and publicly accessible in the New Jersey court system.

Ongoing Patch reporting on Sickles Market:

2nd Lawsuit Against Sickles Market: Meat Vendor Says It's Owed Over $100K (March 19)

Vendors, Employees Say Sickles Owes Them Thousands Of Dollars (March 14)