‘Heartbroken’: Sickles shuts grocery store after four years

RED BANK – Open for nearly four years, Sickles Market, a centerpiece in Red Bank’s west side, is closing its doors for good.

The Sickles family, which opened the Monmouth Street specialty food market in August 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, announced the store’s closure effective 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Bottles by Sickles, which is next door, and Sickles Market, its flagship store in Little Silver, remains open.

Booskerdoo Coffee & Baking Co., which has a space inside the Red Bank store, will remain open as well.

It was a “very difficult decision,” the family said. “To say we are heartbroken does not quite cover it,” the store’s Instagram post Thursday. “We opened our operations in Red Bank in August 2020 and four years later, the repercussions of the pandemic never allowed us to fully turn this location into what we had dreamed.

“Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to move forward. This is the step we are taking to do just that.”

Sickles is the anchor tenant in the Anderson Building, a redeveloped warehouse at the corner of Monmouth Street and Bridge Avenue.

Owner Bob Sickles has described the store as a “Chelsea market” concept. The 8,000-square-foot store sold gourmet grocery, fine cheese, bakery, fresh produce (including locally-sourced items), meat and seafood. It also has a delicatessen and prepared food and a small café. Sickles could not be reached for comment Thursday.

“We continue to learn and grow everyday as a family and a business,” the family said. “We have watched your shopping needs change over the past four years and we will do our best to keep going strong as we build on a foundation that has been here since 1908.”