[RP TownTalk] Trader Joes, Beer/wine in grocery stores

[The Curries]

Dear Riverdale Park neighbors, 

I followed up with the Prince George's Board of License Commissioners about
the specifics of the liquor laws.  Here is the gist of the response from
their office:

1.  State law prohibits "supermarkets" and "chain stores" from holding
liquor licenses.  There were three Supermarket chains in the County that
held licenses previous to the law's enactment: Giant, Shopper's, and Food
Lion.  These chains were "grandfathered" when the legislation was enacted.

2.  State law also only allows one license per "person," which can be
defined as a corporation and not just an individual.  Thus, the three
grandfathered chains can only hold one license apiece.  That is why there is
not more than one Giant, for example, in the County that sells beer and
wine.

3.  There is more recent legislation -- a 1996 moratorium enacted by the
General Assembly -- that prohibits *any* new off-sale licenses to be granted
in Prince George's County.

4.  Certain businesses, like Franklin's in Hyattsville, had Class D (beer
and wine) licenses prior to 1996 and were grandfathered under this
legislation.  (Franklin's is neither a "chain store" nor a "supermarket" so
was not affected by the earlier restrictions on those businesses.)

The upshot is that Trader Joe's, or any grocery chain, would not be allowed
to hold a liquor license in Prince George's County under prevailing
legislation.  Del. Ross' legislation would be to lift that restriction in
the Gateway Arts District, although I have not seen the text of the
legislation so a number of questions remain unanswered.

I'm cross-posting this to the Hyattsville HOPE list since that is where the
discussion started.

Hope this information is helpful --

Chris Currie



-----Original Message-----
From: TownTalk-bounces at riverdale-park.org
[mailto:TownTalk-bounces at riverdale-park.org] On Behalf Of Gerard Kiernan
Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2005 11:52 PM
To: David Hiles; TownTalk at riverdale-park.org
Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] Trader Joes, Beer/wine in grocery stores

Dear fellow residents,

I find this discussion fascinating, but would like someone to explain to me
why Trader Joes or Whole Foods needs a special dispensation from the state
legislature.

For  those of you who read The Washington Post, look at the Giant Food ad
insert in Sunday's paper.  You will see that Giant sells wine and beer in
the GlenRidge store at the intersection of 410 and 450.  I have spoken to
folks who work at Giant Food and they have told me that existing law allows
a supermarket chain in Prince George's County to sell beer and wine in a
limited number of their stores in the County.

Remember that in Montgomery County, supermarkets sell beer and wine because
Montgomery County has a monopoly on selling hard liquor.  I don't know what
DC allows.

One must question a food store chains' business model if they need beer and
wine to succeed.  Also, it says that their marketing studies of this area
have told them that sufficient customer base doesn't exist and can't really
support their business without alcohol available

Interestingly, on Trader Joes web site, on the page for store locations; the
list for Maryland has a note that beer and wine are not available in any of
their Maryland locations (Annapolis, Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Pikesville,
Rockville, Silver Spring).

I am not a wine connoisseur by any means, but when I want a bottle of wine,
I have found some interesting choices available at Dumms Corner market.  I
know that the Spiropoulos sons have given serious thought to expanding their
selection of beer and wines.

Whole Foods list of Maryland and DC locations is also instructive:
Annapolis, Baltimore(2), Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Rockville, Silver Spring,
Washington ( 3, all in NW).

Gerry Kiernan