Anchorage Assembly weighs renewing marijuana store license the state cited over ID checks

The Anchorage Assembly decides Tuesday, Nov. 17, whether to renew the license of Tip Top, a marijuana store the state cited in June after a clerk made sales without checking customers' IDs. Four other marijuana license renewals and three reappointments to the Anchorage Child Care and Early Education Fund Board are also on the agenda for the meeting, which starts at 5 pm at the Loussac Library.

The Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office's June 4 notice of violation, over events April 20, says store video showed at least four sales where the clerk did not check an ID. It also says a doorway was closed off with sheetrock without state approval and a support pole partly blocked the camera's view of the register. The state is proposing an $8,300 fine and three years of probation, according to the Tip Top renewal file. The notice lists earlier violations from December 2023 and March 2024.

The licensee told the state the employee involved was fired and a change-of-premises form was filed to address the floor plan changes. Under state rules, the office's director can approve renewals with no protests, objections or notices of violation; others go to the Marijuana Control Board, which may consider Tip Top's application on its own.

The other four renewals drew no violations in the record: The Tree House AK on Boniface Parkway, Denali Fire and Denali Fire Extracts on Mike Street, and Supherb on North Post Road.

The resolution before the Assembly would renew all five city licenses from Sept. 1, 2026, through Aug. 31, 2028, and tell the state the Assembly has no objection to the matching state licenses. Tuesday is the Assembly's last scheduled meeting before its Dec. 1 deadline to object. The municipal clerk reports none of the businesses owes the city taxes, fees or fines, and the police, fire and health departments have signed off.

The Assembly can object. An August batch of renewals included a protest against one shop the municipality said owed about $12,760.

Separately, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance reappointed Branwen Collier to Seat 4, Trevor Storrs to Seat 5 and Khalial Withen to Seat 6 on the child care fund board, with terms expiring Oct. 14, 2029, if the Assembly confirms. Storrs leads the Alaska Children's Trust. The agenda packet shows Collier and Withen attended all 12 board meetings held from October 2025 through September 2026. Storrs missed three.

The Assembly unanimously created the board in 2024 to advise the mayor and Assembly on the fund. Its nine members are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Assembly for three-year terms.