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NYC Wine Shop Sherry-Lehmann Struggling to Stay Afloat Amid $3M Tax Debt
By: Ellen Cans
A famed New York City wine shop is struggling to meet its obligations as massive tax debt looms and lawsuits mount.
As reported by The NY Post, Sherry-Lehmann, centrally located at 550 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, is struggling to pay even its electric bill. On Feb. 27, the chic wine destination got a not-so friendly visit from Con Edison, in which the power company gave the staff just a “thirty minute warning” to get their stuff before the place goes dark over unpaid bills, as per a source for the Post. The store ended up staying open, thanks to co-owner and chief executive Shyda Gilmer, who paid up enough to keep the lights on. “Shyda was not answering calls,” a source told The Post. “Finally at the last minute he spoke with the guy and paid off online a little more than half of the balance to keep us in the light.”
Insiders say this isn’t the first dramatic incident, or the first sign of trouble, for the swanky 88-year-old wine and spirit store. Reportedly, the store has been scrambling to ship orders for pricey wines– with angry posh customers complaining and demanding either a refund or immediate delivery on wines they paid for weeks, months, and in some cases even years ago.
The high-end store, first established in 1934, had boasted celebrity customers including Greta Garbo and Andy Warhol. As of last Wednesday, however, the wine store currently owes a whopping $2,766,431 in back taxes, according to the New York Department of Taxation and Finance. This is after the store just recently made a payment of $506,627 towards its long-standing balance. The tax agency says the company is now ranked 13th- largest deadbeat on its list, an improvement from the ninth place rank it held before the latest payment.
State tax officials have the authority to close down a business and sell off its assets for unpaid arrears, a spokesperson for the state agency told The Post. Also, co-owner Gilmer is personally liable for the company’s taxes, whether or not the company files for bankruptcy, as per the Post.
A spokesperson for the store commented telling The Post: “Sherry-Lehmann has been in constant contact with the State tax agency and has been paying the balance down since last March, and the company is working diligently to get to zero balance.”
To add to Sherry-Lehmann’s tax woes, they now have lawsuits mounting from clients who say they were stiffed. Raymond Fong and Pak Chung are suing the store over $800,000 worth of rare and expensive Bordeaux cases, which they claim they paid for in 2019 but still have not received. “Mr. Gilmer had a litany of excuses” over the past three years, Chung claimed in a January affidavit. Gilmer has blamed “trade tariffs, Covid-related issues, shipping problems, etc.,” alleged Chung. The wine store, whose law firm Nixon Peabody has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, told The Post in a statement last December that the lawsuit “has no merit” because the company “offered the customers a full refund of their deposit — which they declined.” At the time, Sherry-Lehmann said the wine is “scheduled to arrive in mid-February.” As of the first week of March, the shipment has not yet been delivered, said Sheldon Gopstein, an attorney for the clients.
Sherry-Lehmann’s spokesperson said: “The company’s shipment policy is straightforward: as soon as Sherry-Lehmann receives purchased product from its suppliers, we ship it to customers.”
As per the Post, the wine shop also has two other open lawsuits against it, including another customer who is suing for $184,452 also for wine which allegedly wasn’t delivered; and a Long Island trucking company, Hub Truck Rental Corp., sued the to recover roughly $40,000 in leasing fees, as per court documents.
“The company is taking care of its financial obligations with vendors and suppliers as the company continues to address any past balances that arose during the pandemic,” the Sherry-Lehman spokesperson said.
