Mat-Su's liquor license cap could block a Big Lake store's license move to Wasilla

Valley Country Store & Fuel will ask the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on Nov. 10 to move its Big Lake liquor store license to an existing building on the Parks Highway in Wasilla.

State staff have flagged a problem. The law allows that kind of move only if the borough has more package store licenses than its cap. Mat-Su has exactly as many as its cap allows, 33 of 33, according to a state staff memo to the board. The borough was "at the max allowed, but not exceeding," Program Coordinator Jane P. Sawyer wrote. The memo highlights the law's requirement in yellow.

Alaska limits liquor licenses by population, generally one package store for every 3,000 people. Outside its cities, Mat-Su is allowed 33 package stores, and it has 33. Wasilla is allowed four and already has seven, according to the state's license count chart in the memo.

A state law carves out an exception for large boroughs, letting a license move from the borough into one of its cities. The board can approve such a move only if the borough's count of that license type is over its cap when the application arrives, and only if both the borough and city governments approve. No city can take in more than three of those moves per decade.

The license belongs to Valley Country Store #5 on South Big Lake Road, outside any city. The new store would be at 1451 W. Parks Highway, 1,200 feet from the nearest school grounds and 1,200 feet from the nearest church, the application says. If the board approves, the license becomes a Wasilla license under state rules.

The company is owned by KG Enterprises. Designated licensee Matthew Gittlein owns a third of KG, and Brian, Rachel, Janice and Kenneth Gittlein each own 16.66%. They also own four other Valley Country Store package stores, with Wasilla and Palmer addresses.

The board has dealt with the same law in Wasilla before. In September 2025, it took up The Last Frontier Brewing Company's request to move a beverage dispensary license, the type bars hold, from Willow into Wasilla. A staff memo on that application applied the over-the-cap test to Wasilla's count instead, saying the city qualified because it had seven beverage dispensary licenses against an allowed four. That memo counted one earlier move into Wasilla this decade, which began April 1, 2020.

The board meets Nov. 10 in Anchorage.