City required license holders who won lottery to hold onto store for 1 year from issuance

Rock Market Beverage is getting a new owner after the Rockmart City Council approved the transfer of the distilled beverage license for the first liquor store in the city limits on Monday night.

The City Council voted unanimously to allow for the license to be transferred to Anamika Patel as one of two requests for transfers of alcohol licenses to new owners in the city limits.

The decision comes more than a year after Rock Market Beverage owner Clint Brock opened Rockmart’s first liquor store off of Chattahoochee Drive behind the Captain D’s. The decision to allow for the spot to be used for the liquor store came with some controversy to the neighboring apartment complex, which they later tried to block in court without success.

City Manager Stacey Smith during Monday’s meeting explained when questioned about the license transfer request that part of the process allowing the lottery winners of the distilled package licenses being issued was they were to keep ownership of the stores for at least one year after opening before deciding to sell.

City Council members also questioned as to whether the new license holder owned any other liquor stores in the area, and as far as city officials were able to find Patel did not. The sale of the store was conditioned upon the license being transferred from Brock to Patel via the City Council’s approval.

Rock Market Beverage opened in August 2023. Rockmart’s only other liquor store On the Rocks opened in October 2023.

Polk Today reached out to Brock for comment, but he had yet to respond as of the time of writing.