A ruling in Hamilton County Court means the Clifton Market is closer to changing hands.
Hamilton County Magistrate Stacey Piepmeier granted a motion on July 9 for summary judgment brought by WesBanco Bank against Gurmukh and Genet Singh, who own the market and three residential properties also in Clifton.
WesBanco alleges the Singhs owe more than $350,000 on four mortgages on those properties, including one originally worth $1.6 million on the Clifton Market building.
The magistrate's order allows the bank to foreclose on the properties without a full trial. Under the order, the Singhs had three days to pay off the loans following the ruling. After that, the court could order the property sold at a county foreclosure sale.
WVXU reached out to the Singhs and their attorney, but neither returned requests for comment.
This isn't the first time the market has gotten to this point, though a previous judgment against the Singhs didn't ultimately result in foreclosure.
In a 2024, WesBanco sought to foreclose on the properties through the Warren County Courts, where the Singhs reside.
A Warren County judge issued a final certificate of judgement against the Singhs, but WesBanco filed to have that certificate released in April 2025, after the two parties apparently came to an agreement.
WesBanco filed the current foreclosure in Hamilton County Court in November last year.
In a response filed in late January seeking dismissal of the foreclosure proceedings, the Singhs said they've made $900,000 in payments to the bank to bring their mortgages current. The lender says the couple is still behind on payments.
Gurmukh Singh has acknowledged struggles with Clifton Market and attributed a lack of product there to the closure of some of the market's distributors. He's also said recent health concerns have made things difficult.
Earlier this year, the Market posted the following statement to its Facebook page. The message has since been taken down.
"The downturn in Clifton Market was triggered by Laurel Wholesellers unexpectedly shutting down and conducting a mass layoff of employees in April 2025," the statement read. "This left us and countless other independent grocers throughout the Midwest and Southeast regions of the US scrambling to find suppliers who could: stock our shelves at an appropriate price point, provide us with the product offerings our customers desire, make regular deliveries, and offer credit terms that allow an independent grocery store to thrive in a low margin and highly competitive industry."
There have also been financial issues at stores Gurmukh Singh has run in Oberlin and Ross as well, according to media reports and former employees.
Read more: