Legal alcohol sales have come to Bethel. Fili’s Pizza restaurant received
its first alcohol shipment and began selling beer and wine when the eatery
opened at 11 a.m. Friday.
As of 1:30 p.m. the restaurant says it’s sold three alcoholic beverages,
marking the first legally sold alcohol in Bethel in more than 40 years.
Fili’s Pizza restaurant received its alcohol license from the Alaska
Alcoholic Beverage Control Board this week. Restaurant owner Fili Saliu
says the license arrived in the mail Wednesday, and the restaurant placed
its first wine and beer order that evening.
Fili’s is the only Bethel restaurant to hold a liquor license. Two other
entities, AC Quickstop and Bethel Native Corporation’s Bethel Spirits, hold
Bethel’s two other liquor licenses—both for package liquor stores, which
have not yet opened.
Anna Rose MacArthur is a reporter at KYUK in Bethel.
