Sickles Liquor Store Files For Bankruptcy; Is $5.2 Million In Debt

LITTLE SILVER, NJ — * Patch originally incorrectly reported that Sickles Market filed for bankruptcy. It was not; it was Bottles by Sickles, their liquor store, that filed for bankruptcy first, followed by the market. However, both stores are owned by Sickles and both listed sicklesmarket.com as their business website.

And now the bankruptcy filing.

Months after this upscale Monmouth County grocery store suddenly closed both locations — and then closed their liquor store this April — Bottles by Sickles filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last Tuesday, April 23.

Their bankruptcy petition is accessible to the public, and can be viewed here.

The bankruptcy filing was signed by market owner Robert H. Sickles. Sickles inherited the business from his family; the market had been in business for 116 years.

Sickles filed for bankruptcy under TST Beverages, LLC, doing business as Bottles by Sickles, the name of their wine and liquor store in the Anderson Building in Red Bank. Sickles rented space there for their liquor store and satellite market, Sickles Provisions, both of which are now closed.

They also listed sicklesmarket.com as their business website, and they listed their mailing address as 1 Harrison Avenue in Little Silver, which is the location of the original Sickles Market.

In the bankruptcy filing, TST Beverages said it has $549,388 in total assets, and owes $5.2 million in liabilities. In bankruptcy, a liability is a debt they owe to others. Interestingly, the building that houses their Little Silver market was not listed as an asset, so it is not owned by TST Beverages, LLC.

Sickles' business banking accounts at Northfield Bank and OceanFirst bank have been frozen, according to the filing. The state of New Jersey also put a lien on Sickles' $400,000 liquor license.

Sickles is seeking relief from all outstanding debts it owes. A judge will have to approve their bankruptcy petition.

In their filing, TST Beverages listed the top 20 creditors that have the largest claims against Sickles. The top six are:

• Northfield Bank, says they are owed $4.5 million
• Farmlind Produce, says they are owed $213,000
• Core Funding Source, LLC, says they are owed $180,000
• C. Rooney Produce Company of Ocean Bright, says they are owed $100,000
• Four Seasons Produce, says they are owed $90,000
• Metrovation Anderson LLC, the developer that owns the Anderson building in Red Bank, and Sickles' landlord, says they are owed $63,000 (This conflicts with a lawsuit Metrovation filed against Sickles in February, saying it is owed $329,000 in unpaid rent.)

In total, there are about 47 different companies that say Sickles owes them money; a number of them are liquor, wine and craft beer distributors.

The bankruptcy lawyer Sickles used is Andrew Kelly of the Kelly law firm in Spring Lake.

For decades, Sickles Market was well-known in this area for their prepared foods and outdoor garden market. Sickles abruptly closed down all three business locations this winter, and Patch has been chronicling all the people who say Sickles owes them money.

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

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