A news article about plans for a new restaurant in Boston that will "meld Korean and western cuisine" reports "The Chang family will spend $425,000 to buy the liquor license of the defunct Charley's on Newbury Street for their new Koy restaurant."
Liquor licenses in Boston are like taxi medallions in New York — there is a limited number of them. The result is it's hard to get a taxi in the rain in New York, and good restaurants or bars in Boston are scarcer, and more expensive, than they otherwise would be. In both places, the owners of the existing licenses and medallions don't want more permits issued, because they fear they would erode the value of what they have paid for.
The question of why anyone should need a license from the city to drive a taxi or serve liquor to begin with is a separate question, and a good one.