March 11 hearing set on Riverdale Park Town Center Market alcohol license

The Prince George’s County Board of License Commissioners will hold a March 11, 2026 hearing to determine whether Town Center Market, located at 4705 Queensbury Rd. in Riverdale Park, may continue permitting on-site consumption of beer and cocktails on its outdoor patio. The proceeding is a show-cause hearing that was originally set for Feb. 11, 2026 but was postponed at the market’s attorney’s request, a representative for the commission told Streetcarsuburbs.

Town Center Market is described as a 14-year-old hybrid liquor store and gathering spot whose outdoor patio “attracts a steady stream of patrons from College Park, Hyattsville, the District and beyond,” Streetcarsuburbs reported. Co-owner Jim Spiropoulos, who runs the shop with his brother, has told reporters the space is a “popular community gathering spot” and that the market encourages patrons to bring food from nearby restaurants, according to DBKnews and the Hyattsville Wire.

The legal dispute centers on the scope of the market’s county liquor license, variously referred to in reporting as Class B+ and BL+. The Board has signaled it is challenging the market’s right to permit on-site consumption under that license; DBKnews reported the Board’s position that “the market’s Class B+ license permits on-premises consumption if the business has a restaurant component, which the market has never had.” Hyattsville Wire notes the county no longer issues new BL+ licenses and that existing BL+ holders may renew for $3,270 a year, a renewal arrangement under which Town Center Market has been grandfathered.

If the Board restricts on-site consumption, Hyattsville Wire reports the business would likely still be able to sell packaged alcohol for off-site consumption but would have to end drinks served and consumed on its patio. The case sits against a broader shift in county policy, the Wire article says, toward easing access to liquor licenses for restaurants and bars while tightening restrictions on liquor stores.

Community voices have highlighted the market’s role in local placemaking. Bob Catlin, a College Park resident and former council member, told DBKnews he visits Town Center Market three to four times a year and praised its contribution to the trolley-trail corridor: “Most of the trolley trail doesn’t really have development along it other than residential, so it’s nice when you can have something like that.” Drum Lib UMD also points to the market and surrounding businesses as assets for revitalization and quotes Sergeant Walch of the Riverdale Park Police Department saying the town center “didn’t see major crime.”

Members of the public who wish to submit comment to the Board can email Director Terence Sheppard at tsheppard@co.pg.md.us with a few sentences and their name and address, Hyattsville Wire reports. The March 11 hearing will be the formal opportunity for Town Center Market’s owner to “show cause as to why the county should not restrict on-site alcohol consumption,” a phrasing used in Streetcarsuburbs coverage of the commission’s action.