In VA, the stores are a state monopoly with state-set prices and largely a state-wide selection (not all stores will have everything, but stores will not have *more* than the state has decided to carry, either).

Some of the prices are insanely inflated; for example, Masterson's Rye and Bourbons are $120-ish in VA ABC stores. I brought them back from NV for $60 or less. We have a few good deals, but by and large, prices are inflated over what they are in other states (and not just due to excise taxes).

Don't get me started on allocated stuff, which is almost impossible to come by in VA, and which no one in VA can explain how to get (e.g. there's supposedly a waiting list, but they're not taking new applicants and keep talking about having "a new mechanism" "in development" but never any word). The stores can't give you any good info about special orders or requests, either.

I like the revenue the VA ABCs bring the state, but the way they're run is just atrocious.

As for good stores near IAD, what do you mean by "near?" There's a Signature Store in Tyson's which often has higher-end selections, and another store in Tyson's which has other harder-to-find stuff. I haven't been impressed with the locations in Reston, Herndon, or Sterling, or Chantilly I've visited.