Looks like the Georgia Avenue Food Barn at 6205 Georgia Avenue got the Class "A" liquor license they applied for, and they're proclaiming that fact with these large "Liquor! Liquor!" banners.
I walked into the store the other night, and a clerk who I speak with regularly said proudly, "Have you seen our new stuff?!" as he pointed me toward the store's new liquor section, and explained that this will make up for the grocery sales which drop every year. I asked him why he thinks grocery sales are dropping; he replied that he's not sure, but that patrons who seem to have no problem putting $50 down on numbers will often recoil in horror when told that, for example, a loaf of Wonder bread is going for $2.59 these days.
Several incredulous emails were sent to the Brightwood listserv when the store applied for its Class "A" license, many of which questioned why yet another liquor license should be granted for a business on Georgia Avenue. From my conversation with the clerk, it sounds like liquor is a necessary product for a bodega to sell, if the bodega is to survive.
One good part of the Wal Mart coming to the hood will be a reduction of the number of liquor stores in the neighborhood. Just like Brightwood is a food desert, it's also a liquor oasis.
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