The liquor store attached to the new Wegmans will apparently be upstairs on the second floor of the new building -- at least that's what the name suggests.
Upstairs Wine & Beer has its liquor board hearing on May 1, 2012. That's the trade name of Columbia Wine Partners LLC, which has applied for a seven-day license at 8855 McGaw Road. That seems to be the Columbia Wegmans site facing Snowden River Parkway.
8 comments:
Can a native Marylander explain to me the reasoning behind what appear to be completely ridiculous liquor laws here? I've only lived here a little over six years, and I still can't make heads or tails of it. It's really inconvenient and expensive to have to go to this craptastic, rude little liquor stores instead of buying a bottle of wine or even a six-pack at Trader Joe's. I'd like to be able to do the same at Wegmans, CostCo, etc.
Even the one major organization I've found advocating for changes in Maryland alcohol laws concentrates entirely on the shipping issue, without any identifiable concern for the absurdity of dry grocery stores.
http://www.mbbwl.org/facts/stakeholders
You have just as much power as a native Marylander to make a change. Contact your Congressperson; I'm sure the liquor store lobby does.
Stacy, much as I appreciate the free elementary civics lesson, I'm uncertain why you seem to think that I was unclear on dysfunctional method of Maryland representation. I asked about the laws. Have you any idea of the reasoning behind them, or is this basically just like the cable issue was up until a few years ago? I'm frankly surprised Marylanders are content with such mediocre representation, but gerrymandering has its purposes.
I would like to see wine and beer, at least, sold in grocery stores in Maryland but that would be only for the mainstream. There are many charming and fine wine and liquor stores in Maryland that have an excellent selection as well as a knowledgeable sales staff. As one who has lived in Maryland many years, I know how to seek them out!
The mainstream in what way? One can get pretty good wine and beer in grocery stores in a lot of places I've lived (California, Texas, Germany), often even at Target or standard supermarkets. Sure, smaller food markets will often just have the basics, but have you ever seen the beer and wine selection at a Trader Joe's? What about a Wegmans that's not in Maryland? The lone bright side to a temporary project that required me to commute to the Dulles airport area daily was that I could stop by Trader Joe's to stock up on the things a Maryland Trader Joe's can't carry, such as wine and beer.
Having a liquor store in the Wegmans building is a big improvement, because it means not having to dislodge my kids from the car and navigate parking lots multiple times to get both groceries and the complementary potables, but it's still a lot less convenient than being able to buy wine, groceries, and even a prepared food with one swipe of the card.
I think historically, temperance folks felt that making liquor sales less convenient would make people less likely to buy liquor.
The law is now obsolete from a temperance perspective. Most supermarkets have liquor stores next door. But the the existing liquor store industry lobbies hard to maintain the status quo, since they don't want to compete with Wegmans and the like.
BJS - Some smaller, independently owned grocers sell beer and wine - the Coop in Greenbelt, for example. Not on Sunday, though. Have to go to an actual liquor store on Sundays. Marylands law may seem odd, I do prefer it head and shoulders above states like Virginia and Pennsylvania where one is not able to purchase beer and wine at a liquor store. Having to make two stops, one for wine and one for liquor is far more inconvenient than one stop hootch shopping, to me.
DCNative, that's definitely a good point. Maryland's liquor laws are ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as what I've heard of PA's. I've never been to a regular liquor store in VA, but do they really not sell beer and wine in liquor stores? I liked that I was able to buy beer and wine in the same place as my hummus and yogurt.
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