History-Drenched Dixie Liquor Could Be Yours

After an ownership change less than nine years ago, the retail business founded in 1934 as Dixie Liquor is again for sale. The famed liquor store — frequented by generations of Hoyas and the likes of John Kennedy and former running back John Riggins — is at the intersection of M Street and Key Bridge, next to the cobblestone hill of 35th Street.

“Closed for renovation” since before July 4, the store, at 3429 M St. NW, sits on property owned by the Miller family for decades. In earlier years, the family ran the liquor business — now in purchase negotiations, according to a source wishing to remain anonymous. Calls to the store were not returned.

As the oldest liquor store in D.C., Dixie Liquor is known as much for its store’s personalities as for its beers, wines and vodkas. It carries a liquor license with some extras: the ability to be open 365 days a year and a tasting permit.

The following is how the business recently presented itself: “Some say Dixie Liquor is the only privately owned monument in Washington and that the only reason we are so close to the bridge is to make Virginia jealous. All we know is that the more the world changes, the more Dixie stays the same.”

(Translation: Don’t worry, Hoyas, Dixie will rise again.)