Pan Mar Liquors, commonly known as 20th and I, closed Tuesday following a suspension by the city’s alcohol board for selling alcohol to minors and accepting invalid identification.
The liquor store at 1926 I St. will reopen Jan. 18, according to D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration. It also paid a $1,000 fine on Jan. 2.
The temporary shutdown stems from a March 2011 investigation, after a Metropolitan Police officer saw a young man exiting the store with a case of beer. That man was later identified as a 19-year-old who used a fake ID to buy the beer, and officers found that the store should have rejected it due to security features.
ABRA held a hearing six months later, ordering Pan Mar to pay the fine and serve 10 days of suspension starting October 16, 2011. But five days before then, the store filed a motion for the alcohol board to repeal the charges.
More than a year later, on Nov. 7, 2012, the alcohol board upheld the charges, ordering that Pan Mar begin serving the suspension Jan. 8, 2013.
Pan Mar has faced similar investigations in February 2011 and March 2008 for unlawfully selling to minors, but there are no records of a previous suspension.
GW has a partnership with ABRA and has helped the agency bust at least seven liquor stores and bars for selling to minors in the last two years, according a Freedom of Information Act request by the Hatchet.