Arlington Didn't Sell Alcohol Until 1978. Now Three Shops Are Competing for Its Next Two Licenses

"I sold candy to younger customers, and after 20 years they say 'Oh, we are now 25, we need beer from you instead of someone else.'"

Nilesh Patel told that to YourArlington in late September. He has managed Peter Pan Superette at 2 Park Ave. for 28 years. When Arlington voters approved two new package-store licenses this spring, his customers called and stopped by to tell him to apply. Some started a petition, and Patel says more than 300 people signed it.

Peter Pan is one of three applicants for those two licenses. The Select Board heard all three on Monday, Sept. 28, and plans to vote on Monday, Oct. 5. Most coverage frames this as a question of whether Arlington needs more liquor stores. The town's own reasoning points somewhere else. Officials pushed for these licenses so the town could decide who opens a store and where. Without them, those decisions drift to a private market where licenses change hands at high prices.

A town that adds licenses one step at a time

Arlington banned alcohol sales until 1978, 45 years after national Prohibition ended. Katie Luczai, the town's economic development coordinator, wrote that the town has raised its license count "incrementally" over the past 50 years. She added that state law would allow Arlington up to 20 off-premises licenses, but the town has historically set a lower local quota. Until this year, that quota was six.

All six are in use, and the town's 2026 license-renewal roster lists where they are:

In a town that holds its quota well under the state limit, a seventh store can't open just because someone wants to open one. Town Meeting has to ask, the Legislature has to agree, and voters have to approve.

How two more licenses got onto the March ballot

The process ran close to the deadline. YourArlington's reporting traces it step by step:

1. During the 2025 legislative session, Town Meeting voted 112–92 to ask the state for permission to go from six licenses to eight. That margin is about 54 percent.
2. The enabling bill, H.4815, was introduced Dec. 8 and stalled until mid-February.
3. State Rep. Sean Garballey pushed it through the Legislature on Feb. 17, and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll signed it Feb. 19. It is now Chapter 28 of the Acts of 2026.
4. On Feb. 20, the last legal day to add questions to the March 28 ballot, the Select Board voted 3–0 at a specially scheduled meeting to put it on.
5. On March 28, voters approved Question 2 by 9,497 to 3,833, or 71.25 percent.

Town Manager Jim Feeney gave much of the credit to Garballey and to Town Clerk Juli Brazile for keeping the measure on schedule.

A yes vote didn't hand anyone a license. The town's explainer says it authorized the Select Board to issue two additional all-alcohol, off-premises licenses. Those can go to liquor stores or to specialty food shops. The Select Board decides who gets them.

Why the town wanted the licenses in its own hands

Luczai's case for the change rested on two points. First, the town had heard from at least one would-be business owner whose plan combined alcohol with other goods and services. With no license available, she wrote, that business "had to pursue other opportunities outside of Arlington and their intended storefront remains vacant to date."

Second, she warned about scarcity. When a community hits its quota, licenses start trading between private parties at inflated prices, and she wrote that this "limits economic opportunities for small business owners and causes municipalities to lose control over license issuance." The same article notes that a single license can cost as much as $600,000 on Boston's private market.

Feeney called the measure "a tool for further economic development in support of small businesses." Attorney Adam Barnosky, who specializes in liquor licensing, told YourArlington that a new license "now has another tool in their toolbox," meaning the town can use it to strengthen its commercial districts.

Taken that way, the Oct. 5 vote decides which storefronts get filled and by whom.

Three applicants, three different locations

Arlington Center Fine Wines, 5 Medford St. Pietro Giglio and his partner Chris Lianos first proposed a store in Arlington in April 2024 and were turned down because no licenses were available. Lianos has owned Ball Square Fine Wines in Somerville since 2000 and hosts food and drink tastings and community events there. He says many of his customers already come from Arlington. The two met in 2010, when Giglio worked mostly in catering. Their plan pairs wine with food. "Food and wine, that's what connects people," Giglio said.

Ruby Wine and Spirits, 1340–1342 Mass. Ave. Utsav Patel wants to open in Arlington Heights, which he called "an underserved pocket of the business district" and "a natural, convenient hub for the local residents there." His family has run liquor businesses for more than a decade and built them from scratch in Groton. He describes his plan as "an elevated shopping experience rather than just a normal, basic package store."

Peter Pan Superette, 2 Park Ave. Nilesh Patel, who is not related to Utsav, has run this convenience store for 28 years. He says his regulars come from Arlington and from Lexington, Woburn and Winchester. The store has never sold alcohol, though Patel says he has 13 years of experience working at other liquor stores. "I hope they give it to me and give me a chance to serve the people instead of somebody from another place," he said.

On a map, the choices look like this: a wine-and-food shop just off Arlington Center, a new store in the Heights, or a license added to a long-running neighborhood convenience store.

The question the board still has to answer

The tensest moment at the Sept. 28 hearing was about eligibility. Sydney Prokos, Utsav Patel's lawyer, pointed out that Nilesh Patel also owns BB Liquors on Mass. Ave. She cited the section of state law that bars anyone from holding more than one package-store license in the same town.

Nilesh Patel answered that Peter Pan is a family business. "If you guys granted the license, my son [is going to] be in the business, and he's [been] running from businesses for five years," he said. Select Board Chair John Hurd noted that the BB Liquors license was filed by a different company and asked whether the two entities are separate enough. Board members said they want to review the law. Board member Stephen DeCourcey also asked what it would mean for one owner to run two stores so close together. Patel said each store has its own regulars.

The board also questioned the other applicants. DeCourcey asked Giglio and Lianos about selling cigars alongside bourbon, which needs a separate Board of Health license. They said they would apply for it later if they get the package license. Diane Mahon, who joined by Zoom, asked about nips. Lianos said those would be "more eclectic" and meant mostly as samples or gift-basket add-ons, not a main product.

Only one member of the public spoke. David Goudreau, a longtime employee of Ball Square Fine Wines, described the Somerville store as well run. As of Sept. 30, the eligibility question is unresolved and no licenses have been granted.

The case for keeping the count where it was

Not everyone in town agreed with the change, and the objections came from people inside the business. Eric Faiola, owner of Mystic Wine Shoppe, told YourArlington this spring:

"It takes a pie and just breaks more places [a] piece of that pie. If another store opens up, there's a good chance that another store will close."

Faiola said demand jumped during COVID-19 and has "waned" since. He pointed to Dry January and sober October, and said his non-alcoholic wine selection has quadrupled in about a year and a half. At Town Meeting, Precinct 2 member Peter Fiori said he had never seen a line out the door at an existing package store, and added, "If it's not broken, don't fix it." Precinct 3 member Adam Lane argued for keeping "a small amount of friction" in how alcohol is bought, citing concerns about underage drinking.

Those views help explain why the town has raised its count in small steps for half a century, and why the Town Meeting vote was much closer than the ballot result.

Elsewhere on Mass Ave this fall

Two other food-and-drink openings are coming along slowly. Colette Bakery, a French bakery-café owned by Nathalie and Franck Beddiar, is coming to 681 Mass. Ave. In August, Patch reported a target of "sometime in September" with no exact date. At last check, the bakery's own site still labeled the Arlington shop "opening soon." In the Heights, Arlington Brewing Co. plans a brewery, taproom, kitchen and beer garden at 15 Ryder St. Its website says it has "not broken ground just yet" and is aiming to open in 2026. The town's new licenses are for package stores, which sell sealed drinks to take home, so they are a separate track from a brewery's taproom.

For a town that celebrates Mass Ave every September at Town Day, the Oct. 5 vote will settle which two addresses on or near that street, from 5 Medford St. to 1340 Mass. Ave. to 2 Park Ave., get Arlington's seventh and eighth package-store licenses.

The shops along Mass Ave and in the Heights shape what daily life feels like in Arlington, and they matter when you're weighing a home on any of these blocks. If you'd like to talk through how a new storefront or a business district's direction fits your plans, Corinne Schippert would be glad to help. Let's Connect.