A dozen stores have applied to deliver liquor, beer and alcohol in Prince George’s County, while other businesses have balked at the restrictions now required by the county’s liquor board. A handful of Prince George’s County businesses had made deliveries for decades since the practice became legal in 1947, with little complaint from the community or any problems reported by police or the liquor board. The board took notice only when Potomac Gourmet Market, in National Harbor, sent a letter to the board requesting permission to deliver to tenants in the complex.
Eleven other businesses also have asked the liquor board for a letter of authorization allowing them to make the deliveries. The applicants include a mix of stores looking to deliver alcohol for the first time and owners who have delivered liquor and wine for years, but must now apply to comply with the law.
John Jenkins, owner of Potomac Gourmet, said his store has been delivering groceries to National Harbor tenants for months, and received repeated requests to deliver alcohol as well. Potomac Gourmet has no issues with the rules imposed by the liquor board, he said.
“I think we figured we were going to have to do certain things,” Jenkins said. “There’s nothing in the law that we weren’t going to be doing anyway.”
But at least two liquor stores that delivered before the change — B.K. Miller Meats & Liquors in Clinton and No. 1 Liquors in College Park — have declined to apply, according to liquor board spokeswoman Kelly Markomanolakis.
Blaise Miller, owner of B.K. Miller liquors, testified before the board that he delivered in the past only as a favor to some of his oldest and most loyal customers. The deliveries were never made to boost profit.
“It’s not a money-making proposition, I think for anyone,” Miller said. “It doesn’t make sense to pay for it and do all the filing if there’s no profit.”
Obtaining permission annually now requires a public hearing before the liquor board and a $250 advertising fee.
The board’s first hearing on the applicants is scheduled for Oct. 12.
Delivery employees must ask for proof that the purchaser is 21 or older and keep records verifying customers’ identities. On-campus deliveries are banned, preventing college students at institutions like the University of Maryland and Bowie State University from using deliveries to circumvent the law.
The five-member liquor board may suspend or revoke a store’s authorization to deliver at any time.
