Tony’s Market, the popular liquor and convenience store in Oak Bluffs, is under new ownership.

The select board voted at its Feb. 25 meeting to approve the transfer of the store’s liquor license, inventory and stock to Sumanbhai Patel’s Dukes County Market, Inc. The store was previously owned by Cottage City Market Place, Corp. 

Mr. Patel owns real estate and package stores in other parts of Massachusetts, including Rory’s Market in Dennis, but this is his first business on the Island, his lawyer Greg Demakis said at the meeting last week. Mr. Patel was not in attendance.

Operations at the market on Dukes County avenue will remain the same, according to Mr. Demakis. The employees are staying on and the hours are not changing. 

The select board did raise concerns about whether Mr. Patel was related to the owners of Our Market, another package store in town with owners of the same surname.

Mr. Demakis said that Patel is a common last name, and not everyone who has it is related, though Tapan Patel, a manager at Our Market is Mr. Patel’s son. The younger patel has no relationship to Tony’s Market, Mr. Demakis said.

Select board member Dion Alley also asked whether Mitesh Patel, who manages New Jamaica Plain Realty LLC, a company from which Mr. Patel drew money to purchase Tony’s Market, was related to the Patels who own Our Market.

“I don’t believe Mitesh Patel has anything to do with [Our Market],” said Mr. Demakis. “I would be shocked if he did.”

Mr. Alley explained that the select board was concerned that if a single family owned multiple liquor stores and something were to happen to a family member, all of the businesses may withdraw.

“We’ve got a lot of…businesses with one family, and so if something were to happen...this is just hypothetical, between the town of Oak Bluffs and one of the Patel family members, then do we lose all of them?” Mr. Alley said. “I’m sure they’re upstanding. I see that…it’s just that it poses a risk to the town.”

After the discussion the board voted unanimously to approve the license transfer. 

Tony’s Market, which includes a deli counter, food section and alcohol sales, has been continously operating since 1887, making it a cornerstone in Oak Bluffs. It has been known as Tony’s since at least World War II, when it was purchased by the eponymous Tony Veira.