RED BANK: LIQUOR STORE FILLS ‘SPACE’ SPACE

Royal Wines and Spirits, specializing in single-malt liquors, took over the White Street space long held by Space Interiors. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)

By WIL FULTON

Downtown Red Bank’s perpetual churn continues as a new liquor store settles in on White Street, trying to stake its claim in an already saturated market.

Royal Wine and Spirits recently took over the spacious red-brick building last occupied by furniture design shop Space Interiors at the corner of English Plaza.

There, partners Bharat Patel and Amritpal Singh are staking out a central location amid three other downtown bottle shops: Heritage Liquors, at Broad and East Front streets; the Wine Cellar, on Monmouth; and Red Bank Liquors, on West Street.

Amritpal Singh and Bharat Patel in their new store. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)

Despite the presence of well-established incumbents, Patel and Singh felt compelled to acquire a retail liquor distribution license last June, and jumped at the chance to open their store on White Street after Space left.

Red Bank, Patel said, is town that’s known for “great restaurants, shopping and nightlife.”

“We are happy to be in the heart of Red Bank in a very convenient location,” he said. “It’s in a spot where passersby and people going out for dinner at BYOB restaurants can stop in and grab something to drink.”

Patel and Singh said they hope to carve out a niche for themselves by specializing in wines, craft beers, and single-malt whisky, bourbon and scotch – providing customers an extensive selection of each, in addition to the standard liquor store fare of assorted hard liquors, mixers and imported beer.

Patel said the 2,000-square-foot store is designed so patrons have no trouble sifting through the extensive collection of products.

“We have a large selection already,” Singh said, “but we also will always order something for a customer if we don’t have it.” He added that another one of the store’s trademarks is custom-made gift baskets.

Though this is Patel’s first foray into the liquor store business, he said he already has been enjoying his time at Royal, and that the new shop has already gained some faithful customers.

“Even in such a short time we have built up a steady base of regulars,” he said. “They know they can find brands here that they wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else.”