Geets, a 'Williamstown staple,' closes

Geets Diner, a landmark in Williamstown for nearly 75 years, abruptly closed its doors during a routine lunch hour Monday.

"It was where you had your hometown people," said Monroe Township Mayor Dan Teefy. "It was 15 minutes of saying hello to everybody before you sat down."

On the morning of the diner's closing, owner NJK Hospitality L.L.C.'s Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition was converted to Chapter 7, which calls for liquidation of assets. Teefy said a bankruptcy court order called for the immediate closure.

The Chapter 11 petition, filed in May 2015, listed total assets of less than $50,000 against liabilities of $1 million to $10 million.

The diner was behind on its finances, owing money to the state, township, and IRS in taxes. And the most recent financial reports filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, covering April 2016, indicate that the diner had nearly $19,000 in net cash flow that month on $232,000 in sales.

Teefy said there had been ongoing repairs to the diner's face for about a year that remained unfinished.

"Geets was an integral part of town," Teefy said.

The owners put it up for sale and it had two potential buyers as of Wednesday afternoon, Teefy said, adding that he was hopeful someone will buy it, keep it as a diner, and not change its name.

Attorneys representing the owner could not be reached for comment.

On Wednesday, a sign was taped on the diner's front door that read, "Closed for renovations." The blinds were pulled down and the doors locked. On the message board under the large, red, vertical "Geets" sign facing traffic was one word: Closed.

A car pulled up to the mostly empty lot during the afternoon, and the driver stuck his head out the window and asked, "What happened?"

"This was a Williamstown landmark," he said.

The diner, at Black Horse Pike and Sicklerville Road, had been open since 1942. "Geets" was a nickname of founder Francis Sylvester, who with his wife, Rose, opened it as a small truck stop.

Over the years, Geets endured, even as suburban sprawl enveloped the area and the Atlantic City Expressway replaced the pike as a Shore route.

Teefy said that as a resident for about 40 years, he remembers Geets as always an "icon in town." Before GPS and Google Maps, he said, anyone who knew Williamstown would use the giant Geets sign to help people navigate.

"It was a directional sign," he said.

The diner also provided a lot of jobs for kids in the area over the years, he said, including some of his own relatives. He also spoke of the employees who were losing their jobs.

The Sylvester family sold the diner in the 1980s.

NJK Hospitality - which paid $2.13 million in 2005 for the 2.11-acre property, according to Gloucester County records - added a sports bar, Geets Sports Bar & Grille, to the back nearly a decade ago.

Some customers took to social media this week to mourn Geets' closing, posting to its Facebook page memories and comments about how they enjoyed the food and atmosphere.

Teefy said that every time he went to the diner, there was a large crowd, and it was very much a place for regulars. He said the township would support new owners.

"For some of the old-timers, it's where they went every morning for breakfast, meet their buddies, and talk the issues of the town," Teefy said. "That's a Williamstown staple."

856-779-3912; eserpico@philly.com