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# Sherry-Lehmann, Iconic NYC Wine Store, May Close After 88 Years
- URL: https://bevnews.net/sherry-lehmann-iconic-nyc-wine-store-may-close-after-88-years/
- Published: 2022-12-14T00:54:18.000Z
- Updated: 2022-12-14T02:44:33.000Z
- Author: Joel Whitaker

The posh wine store appears to be in deep trouble, according to a report in the New York Post. Its corporate clientele is staying away from midtown Manhattan, it owes New York State $3.1 million in unpaid sales taxes, making it No. 9 on the department's list of the[ top 250 delinquent business taxpayer](https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/enforcement/delinquent%5Ftaxpayers%5Fbusinesses.pdf?ref=bevnews.net)s, and vendors are demanding payment in advance by wire after the firm's checks bounced, the Post said. 

What went wrong? One thing was beyond Sherry-Lehman's control: Covid, which kept many of its big-spending corporate clients away. But most of its problems are self-inflicted. For instance, after being purchased by a group that included a former hedge fund trader and a long-time Sherry-Lehmann employee, they sold its store at 579 Madison Ave., which it had owned for 60 years, and now faces an annual rent bill of nearly $2 million, according to Post.

They sold the building to raise capital to open Sherry-Lehmann West in Los Angeles, but that venture failed. It also sold a 65,000-square-foot warehouse in Jamaica, Queens, where it had inventory for wealthy clients who ordered high-priced and spirits wine by the case, or in many cases, cases.

When a retailer – or any business, for that matter – owns the real estate where it operates, it owns its future. When it doesn't, it has lost an important backstop in troubled times.