James McGovern

WORCESTER – A Greendale area liquor store founded and operated by the parents of U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern has sold for more than $1 million.

McGovern's Greendale Liquor and Package Store, located along West Boylston Street, was sold in mid-November by Mary Ann McGovern, according to property records.

Mary Ann McGovern, Rep. McGovern's mother, also heads the estate of her late husband, Walter McGovern, the founder of the liquor store.

Amitkumar and Ritaben Patel, the trustees of 444 West Boylston Street Trust, bought the property from McGovern Nov. 13 for $1,025,000.

The new owners will not change the name of the liquor store, Amitkumar Patel recently told a Telegram & Gazette reporter.

At 440-444 West Boylston St., the liquor store is across the street from Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School.

Rep. McGovern has made reference to working in the liquor store when he was in high school during past political campaigns.

The news of the store's sale was first reported by the Worcester Business Journal.

The store was founded by McGovern's father, Walter F. McGovern III, who had previously worked for the David Clark Co. in Worcester.

McGovern served as president of the Worcester County Package Store Association, where he used a gavel that his son later wielded appointed to lead the House Rules Committee.

Walter McGovern III died in 2019 at 81.

Walter McGovern's brother, John H. McGovern, founded and ran McGovern's Package Store at 82 Millbury St.

John H. McGovern's grandson, Robert Largess Jr., said the brothers had founded the liquor stores in the 1930s, at the end of the Prohibition era.

John H. McGovern's store was eventually passed on to Largess, who later sold it.

Largess owns the Hotel Vernon bar on Kelley Square and Harrahy's Liquor on Ward Street.