After nearly 12 years in business, Clifton Martini & Wine Bar permanently and abruptly closed its doors for good yesterday.
Owner Jeff Rumplik said he decided to pull the plug not for any financial reason, labor decision, or anything to do with the pandemic. Business was good, in fact, and the popular westside establishment had made it through the brunt of the pandemic.
He decided to close, he said, after four years of what he called “constant harrassment” from his landlord, Wilsher Management, which owns the building.
“It’s been four years of [them] putting up any hurdle they could — harrassing our delivery drivers, pretty much forcing out every other tenant in the building,” Rumplik told Scene. “Even yesterday, he’s saying I stole all his equipment. There was nothing in that space prior to me. Everything there was mine. He called the cops four times and they said it says right here in the lease this is his content. They were basically laughing at him.”
Rumplik, who also owns Village Martini & Wine Bar in Chagrin Falls, sued Wilsher in early 2020 over a variety of claims related to his lease. That lawsuit is still ongoing, but he felt there was little recourse for now other than shutting up shop.
“We got through the pandemic,” he said, “but I just wanted to get out of this.”
A day after moving all his equipment out, Rumplik is still “shook.”
“Yesterday was a rough day. Business was amazing. I never would have shut down if not for this,” he said.
This article appears in Oct 6-19, 2021.
