Calvert Woodley’s Ed Sands, A Market Watch Retailer Of The Year, Dies At 84

Ed Sands of Washington, D.C.’s Calvert Woodley Fine Wines & Spirits, died April 22 at the age of 84. Known especially for wine, Calvert Woodley became a D.C. institution, with its clientele ranging from “local civilians to Supreme Court justices,” as Sands told Market Watch in a 2012 profile, the year he earned Retailer of the Year honors.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Sands began his career on Wall Street before moving to Washington to join the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In the nation’s capital, he met his future wife, Bonnie, and eventually went into business with his father-in-law Albert Rosenfield, a grocer, who suggested he open a liquor store to complement his nearby Woodley Supermarket. That resulted in Sands leaving the SEC and opening Woodley Wine & Liquor in the mid-1960s.

In 1982, Sands joined forces with competitor Aaron Bernstein’s Calvert Liquors, and the two opened the one-unit, 4,500-square-foot Calvert Woodley Fine Wines & Spirits on Connecticut Avenue, which became a D.C. landmark, generating revenue of around $20 million annually. Sands spearheaded Calvert Woodley’s push into Bordeaux futures, for which the store became known, along with initiatives like wine dinners with visiting winemakers and in-store tastings. Fielding a well-trained, knowledgeable staff also became a trademark, with longtime employees specializing in hand-selling lesser-known bottles. Sands retired from the business in 2019, and his son Michael now owns the store.—Daniel Marsteller

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