Towne Wine & Liquor

The store sits at 1438 Wisconsin Avenue NW, in the stretch of Georgetown where the avenue begins its long northward run toward Tenleytown. The building is narrow and deep. Shelves climb from the floor nearly to the ceiling, stacked with bottles of every category, and the space has the density of a place that has been filling itself up for decades rather than arranging itself for display. Walk past the brick townhouses and the restaurant patios and you will find it set among dry cleaners and a pharmacy, the kind of small-format retail that has held on here longer than most.

The shop is operated by JLC, Inc., and regulars refer to the owner simply as Chris. Whether the business has passed through a family or stayed in one set of hands across its full run is not something the store advertises, but the staff have a consistency and ease that suggests people who know their inventory without being asked. The owner is described in reviews as genuinely approachable, and the shop has the character of a neighborhood business whose identity depends on recognition rather than branding.

The inventory covers the full range of what a working liquor store should carry. Hard spirits, from bourbon and rye to scotch and tequila, line the back shelves. The wine section runs domestic and imported, with bottles at a broad range of price points. Beer fills a cooler section, with both domestic standards and a rotating selection of craft options. The store also carries soft drinks and mixers, which matters at 9pm on a Sunday when you need club soda and the grocery store is across town. Prices are competitive for a Georgetown address, with a cash discount available at the register.

Towne Wine and Liquor opened more than sixty years ago, placing its founding sometime in the early 1960s when Georgetown was still a working neighborhood rather than a shopping district. The store license history with the DC Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration shows a relatively recent move from its longtime address at 1326 Wisconsin Avenue to the current 1438 location, approved in mid-2021. That kind of relocation, staying on the same avenue and keeping the same name and staff, is about as close to an anchor tenant as a commercial block gets. The store predates most of the restaurants and boutiques that now surround it.

Delivery is available Monday through Saturday until 9:30pm and Sunday until 8:30pm, covering the immediate neighborhood and reachable through the store directly or through third-party platforms including Minibar. For walk-in visits, the store opens at 11am on weekdays and Saturdays, and at noon on Sundays. The front door is at street level with no step, and the narrow aisles are navigable even when the store is busy. On a first visit, ask the staff if you are looking for something specific. The selection is larger than it appears from the entrance, and the people behind the counter know where things are.