November 21st, 2020
Rock Island’s Hickey Brothers Closing Its Doors Permanently Tonight
The light on Hickey Brothers Cigars & Hookah Lounge is being snuffed out.
This weekend will be the last in operation for the Rock Island fixture, which has been a part of the downtown for over two decades, according to a social media post.
The business, owned by local entrepreneur Michelle Royal, had been struggling this year due to covid and the various restrictions put in place to combat the spread of the virus.
On Nov. 3, they made an announcement on Facebook and started a funding drive to stay open, however, it unfortunately fell short.
The announcement read as followed:
Its with a heavy heart that we make this announcement. This will be Hickey Bros. Cigars and Hookah Lounge’s final weekend.
We will be closed permanently after this Saturday the 21st. We fought on for another year when we came close to closing Dec. 2019 and we did our best to carry on and even had big plans to breathe new life into it but sadly they never came to fruition.
Its been an AMAZING run, 23 YEARS is more than most business owners can ever dream of being around. Words can never truly express how thankful we are for all the wonderful memories and great times we’ve had these past two decades with you, our customers and friends
So long and a sincere thank you from the bottom of our hearts, it was an absolute honor to serve you all.
Hickey Brothers is the latest in a string of downtown Rock Island businesses to close their doors in recent months. Big Swing Brew Pub closed temporarily but without a return date pending the covid environment, Black Sheep shut down, and Billy Bob’s has closed, but, like Big Swing, is still looking at a potential re-opening once the covid storm has passed. Rozz-Tox had also been faced with closing, but was able to mount a funding campaign to keep it in operation over the winter.
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