The West Side property that’s the site of Best Liquors has been home to retail businesses for 90 years. For a good part of that history, it was a grocery, but since 1965, it’s been a liquor retailer, says store owner Pankaj ‘Sunny’ Sharma.
Sharma, who’s 30 years old, drives a red sports car and could pass for a matinee idol, has had the store for just three years. But in that time, he says, he’s been diligent about upgrading and maintaining the property.
He matched public funds to pay for a colorful mural along the store’s exposed southern wall. He installed halogen lighting outside and a camera system so he could keep an eye on things from his cash register. Recently, after complaints from neighbors, he hired someone to come by twice a day to pick up wrappers and other debris that customers drop on the sidewalk.
“All of this stuff, the store didn’t have before,” says Sharma. The effect, he says, has been to improve both the look of the corner and the safety. “Even the police chief said that in the last five years, crime is down 70 percent at this corner,” he says.
But Sharma’s neighbors, all of them homeowners, aren’t buying it. Citing a welter of complaints about noise, littering, public urination and prostitution that they say is getting worse—and which they link directly to the store’s presence—they insist that it’s time for the shop’s long run to end.
No matter what it takes, they say, it’s time to shut Sunny down.
It’s nothing personal, the neighbors insist. They grant that Sharma has tried to be responsive. He’s attended a a Westside Community Group meeting to answer their complaints. He’s met with the police chief. In the words of a couple of residents, he’s “a nice guy.”
“I have no problem with Sunny,” says John Ross, of Leighton Avenue. “It’s the town’s fault for having a liquor store here.”
The intersection of Catherine Street and Leighton Avenue, though just a block west of busy Shrewsbury Avenue, is otherwise a residential neighborhood. And Best Liquors, the residents contend, is a longstanding attractive nuisance that’s getting worse in conjunction with a rising problem of overcrowding in rental homes on the West Side.
Ross and others maintain that the store derives a great deal of its business from a highly-transient population of tenants, many of them undocumented immigrants who he says have little regard for the neighborhood because their stays are so short. But he is reluctant, he says, to make housing the top issue—for now.
“Our biggest problem is the liquor store,” says Ross, a union electrician who’s owned his home for two years. “”It’s a quality-of-life issue, period.”
Last week, Ross and his neighbors banded together and descended on Borough Hall, unaware that a group led by South Street homeowners was also rallying before the council that night to complain about property tax increases. The result was a packed house, and a convergence of complaints.
One point of overlap: general agreement that hiring additional code enforcers would likely cut down on overcrowding of rental houses on the West Side while putting more money into the borough till in the form of fines imposed on negligent landlords. Mayor Ed McKenna said the borough is on it, with one new hire pending.
Residents also complained about what they said was a spotty record of response by the police to their calls.
On a recent Friday afternoon, Ross pointed out a patrol car parked opposite the store, and the relative quiet on the corner.
“Right now, it’s calm. Everything seems great,” he says. “With the police officer here, it’s never been quieter. But come back here at 8:30, 9 o’clock tonight. The police will be gone, things will pick up at the liquor store, and you’ll see why everybody here is sick to their stomachs about this.”
What you’ll see, he says, is noisy loitering, the occasional fight, drug dealing and possibly even some flesh trade. Ross, who seems to have an innate sense of stagecraft with a microphone in his hand, both amused and appalled the borough council session with a tale of how he emerged from his house one recent Saturday morning to pick up his newspaper and was graced with the sight of a topless hooker in front of the store.
Krishna Tyler, who lives with her family a few doors north of the business, says customers of the store park in front of her house, down their bottles of liquor, and toss the empties onto her sidewalk or over her fence into her front yard, often while blasting music over their stereos.
“It goes on an on,” she says of the disruptions. “It never ends.”
But none of that is Sharma’s fault, says Kevin Haskins of Drs. James Parker Boulevard, who’s been a customer of the store since it was known as Johnny Gent’s. “If people are hanging out, how could he put a stop to it?” asks Haskins. “Sunny does his best to chase them out. Johnny Gent’s had the same problem.”
Sharma contends that the recent rash of complaints is baseless, and that none of the residents have approached him in recent weeks, since he says he stepped up his monitoring of the property.
At the Sept. 25 council meeting, Mayor Ed McKenna said borough officials would explore various options available to deal with the situation, including the possible purchase of Sharma’s liquor license.
Police Chief Mark Fitzgerald is reluctant to talk about ongoing measures to address conditions at the corner in any detail, other than to say that the Police Department is working with residents to resolve the behavior underlying the complaints.
“It’s not a shopping area, it’s a neighborhood,” he says.
One approach residents shouldn’t count on a “Cops in Shops” solution. In July, Fitzerald indicated to the Hub that the borough might be able to place a patrolman on the premises in an effort to curtail violations. But grant money that the town has received in the past for a state program by that name didn’t come through this year, says Fitzgerald.
But Sharma could be facing trouble for some past alleged infractions, and the timing of their ajudication may prove particularly difficult for him, given the present level of outrage in the neighborhood. Three municipal court cases are pending against his business over allegations of sale of alcohol to minors— disorderly persons offenses. (A court hearing that had been scheduled for today, Oct. 5, has been postponed until Dec. 28 because two of the witnesses are away at college, according to Fitzgerald.)
Should the store be found guilty of any of the pending complaints, the Borough Council could open an inquiry into the license itself, says Fitzgerald.
“It’s a privelege to have a liquor license, not a right,” says Fitzgerald.
Sharma pleaded guilty July 20 in municipal court to possession of contraband cigarettes, and says all the complaints are attributable to the actions of a wayward employee he fired after learning of the employee’s actions—via his new security cameras.
Simply driving through Leighton Avenue after 7pm substantiates the complaints residents have with Mr. Sharma's establishment. This subject requires minimal study.
Without question, this liquor store defines the expression "public nuisance". Taxpayers in the neighborhood of "Best Liquors" are right to demand a remedy by the city.
Grant Mr. Sharma the ability to move his liquor license to an appropriate commercial/retail corridor. Give the neighborhood their well-earned relief.
Thank you redbankgreen for covering this important story in such depth. Yes, it's true, most people seem to like Sunny & dislike his business. It would be great (as Ken's email says) if Sunny could move his liquor license to another more appropriate location. Something about the corner of Leighton and Catherine encourages people to hang out, unlike the other 2 liquor stores in our neighborhood- all of them within a 4 block radius! Exactly why his customers find it necessary to leave their car on with radio blasting while they shop is a mystery to me. My husband and I (who live across the street from the store) would love to eat dinner in peace and quiet without being subjected to a booming distorted bass or worse yet, obscenity laced lyrics. Often there is a closing time crowd on weekends and 2 or 3 cars will be left running at the same time. What's up with that?! Would it help to post no loitering and no idling signs (like outside of Wawa) in both English and Spanish? It's a fact, the selling of alcohol attacts a lot of activity our neighborhood could do without- drug dealing, fights, noise pollution, littering, gambling and even prostitution. Do the kids in our neighborhood really need to witness all that? Move the store to Shrewsbury Avenue with all the other local businesses and where the pace of traffic doesn't encourage the sort of loitering that happens on Leighton Avenue- what should be a quiet, residential area only!
Thank you for bringing this story some attention. It is noon on Thursday and I have already called the police today. An extremely intoxicated man was harassing my elderly neighbor and myself for change to buy a bottle. He went so far as to walk into her rear yard cornering her. Baseless Sonny?
Plain and simple, there should never be a liquor store in a neighborhood. A liquor store must not be allowed in any neighborhood where there are children living. Sunny can look for a business else where, just go to Shrewsbury Ave.
This neighborhood will be a peaceful, noise and pollution free, not to mention the drug addict hang out in front or the side of this liquor store.
Thank you for writing this story.
Krishna Tyler
I couldnt agree more with my neighbors. A residential neighborhood is NO place for a liquor store..period!!!! I have no personal issue with Sonny. I'm sure he's made efforts to "clean up" the corner of Catherine and Leighton Aves where his store is located. But lets be honest here people….a painted mural? halogen lighting? a part-time garbage collector? It all sounds nice on paper but those minor improvements dont keep the prostitutes away, or the drug dealers or the loud booming music of cars parked outside left running. Nor do they deter the public urination, the blatant littering up and down the block (not just infront of the store) or additional traffic (which all too often you'll find speeding down the street)!! Best Liquors is the core of the problem. Something has to be done! I agree with Ken…give Mr Sharma the ability to move his liquor license to a more appropriate location (NOT a residential neighborhood) and let us (the residents) live in peace!!!!!!!!!!
It is now 2:30 and there are 5 police cars out front. It seems that a man was so drunk that he rode fell off his bike onto a neighbors driveway. EMT just showed as well. To BOOT!!!!! I see Sonny's new help. The man sweeping out front is the same one I called about earlier for public Drunkiness and harassing neighbors panhandling for liquor money. Way to help the neighborhood Sonny.
Great job with this story. I am both a satisfied customer of Sonny's place (my wife and I call it Johnny Depp's due to Sonny's movie star coutenance) and a disgruntled neighbor. It's the closest liquor store to my house and I often stroll down there for a six pack of Corona. I've spoken to Sonny about all this. I'm convinced he's a good guy who wants to do the right thing and he seems geunuinely exasperated about both the problems and the flak he gets over them. He should not be run out of town with these ordinance violations and I'd hate to see him strong-armed.
That said, it has astounded me from the day I moved to the West Side 3 years ago that Red Bank would allow liquor stores like his and Yogi's (that place is far, far worse than Sonny's in terms of the dregs who go there) in a residential neighborhood. He should be offered a place on Shrewsbury Ave or somewhere else. I'd love to stroll down to his new location for my six pack. But that store should simply not be there.
Another thing: I hate to play this card, but my gut tells me if this store with all these problems were on the east side, the problem would have been taken care of a looong time ago. We west siders shouldn't take this crap, either. And yes, bring on the housing inspectors.