This story has been updated to reflect the new date for the Prince George’s County Board of License Commissioners hearing about Town Center Market, originally scheduled for Feb. 11.
The Prince George’s County Board of License Commissioners is challenging the right of Town Center Market, a popular liquor store and gathering place in the heart of Riverdale Park’s historic town center, to sell beer and cocktails for customers to drink on site.
The commission will hold a hearing on March 11 for the market’s owner to show cause as to why the county should not restrict on-site alcohol consumption at the 14-year-old business, which features an outdoor patio that attracts a steady stream of patrons from College Park, Hyattsville, the District and beyond.
The hearing was originally scheduled for Feb. 11. A representative for the commission said Town Center Market’s attorney requested the postponement.
In a letter to commission Chair Oretha Bridgwaters-Simms in support of the market’s ability to allow on-site consumption, Prince George’s County Councilmember Eric Olson (District 3) called the business “much more than a beer, wine and liquor store. With the addition of on-premises consumption, they have become a gathering place where all are welcome.”
The commission contends that the Class B+ liquor license the market holds allows for on-site consumption of alcohol only in “the restaurant portion of your business,” according to a letter to market owner Jim Spiropoulos from commission Director Terence Sheppard, which has circulated on local listservs. “Now that the restaurant portion of your business has closed … your business is no longer eligible for on-premises consumption.”
However, the market, located at 4705 Queensbury Road, never included a full-service restaurant, according to Spiropoulos and others familiar with the market’s history.
Instead, it qualified for an exception to the food requirement under a change to a state law, which permitted a limited number of Class B+ licensees to run both a package store and serve alcohol for on-site consumption.
Olson quoted the law in his letter to Bridgewaters-Simms: “If the permit is issued to a holder of a Class B license with an off-sale privilege, the holder need not comply with any restaurant or food requirement.”
Spiropoulos has estimated that over the years, his family has sunk more than $2 million into the market, which started as a small corner store with three employees. The business employs 18 today.
Patrons are encouraged to buy food from nearby restaurants to eat at the store’s outdoor tables with the beer and alcohol they purchase from the market.
Ijeoma Opara contributed to this article.