LeeAnne Maxfield has run the liquor store in Delta for the past 31 years. It closed June 21.
Another in Fillmore closed at the end of May.
And the last day for sales at the liquor store in Milford was June 20.
“My parents took it over in 1965,” Milford’s operator said. “I have been here since 1983. I was added to the contract in 1993.”
These longtime rural retailers are walking away, they say, because the latest change to their contracts with the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services makes it impossible for them to make enough money to survive.
They all run package agencies, stores run by private operators that have contracts with the state to sell alcoholic beverages in areas of Utah where there are no state-run liquor stores.
Maxfield said she was informed in January that the state was going to require rural package agents to buy a new point-of-sales system — and to cover sales transactions and credit card merchant fees once they sign a new, three-year contract.
DABS paid $326,000 in package agency merchant fees in fiscal 2025, according to a spokesperson.
“There’s a lot of little places that are going to be closed,” Maxfield told the Millard County Chronicle Progress, describing the area as a “liquor desert.”
DABS had previously installed its own point-of-sale system in package stores and paid fees with public money. DABS revealed the changes in January as it opened the application period for 38 rural contracts.
It expanded the number of locations from 35 to 38, adding stores in Veyo, St. George and Green River.
In a recent statement to The Salt Lake Tribune, a DABS official explained the contract change by saying that “the existing POS systems were reaching end of life, and as the department prepared for the new contract cycle [with package agency contractors], it made sense to review contract terms, as is a common business practice.”
But months after the state sought applicants, DABS still needs people to run the stores in Milford, Castle Dale, Fillmore and Delta. Castle Dale hasn’t had a store for two years, according to DABS. But the other stores’ operators have chosen not to proceed under the new contract.
Stores in Kanab, Helper and Kamas are also closed, but DABS told The Tribune that applicants are working through the process and “will be open in the coming weeks.”
Maxfield told the Millard County Chronicle Progress that her only options were to either refuse to accept credit cards and simply operate an all-cash business, or accept making far less money than she is accustomed to earning. Instead, she decided to not sign a new contract with the state.
“For me, it would literally be over 70% of my take-home pay from last year, I would have to pay for credit card fees,” Maxfield said. “I’ve talked to many of them that did not reapply and most are in the same boat.”
Others have reapplied for their licenses, telling the Millard paper they hope DABS officials will realize that collecting credit card fees from store owners will cut deeply into their revenues, which they describe as meager.
In announcing the package agency contracts, Tiffany Clason, who was DABS director at the time, hailed their role: “These stores are built into the fabric of tight-knit small towns, serving residents and tourists visiting Utah’s scenic attractions.”
Clason has since left the agency.
Many operators told the Chronicle Progress that they have been in the business for decades, following in the footsteps of their parents and grandparents who worked in the same storefronts, supplying a needed service to their communities.
Asked about how the closures are impacting the communities, DABS spokesperson Michelle Schmitt wrote in an email: “The DABS is working hard to identify business-minded individuals interested in the opportunity to enter a contract with the state to operate a package agency. The department is disappointed to have a temporary lapse in service and hopes to restart service in these areas soon.”
She noted that DABS isn’t saving money with the change because funds that were used for point-of-sale and credit card fees are “repurposed to increase compensation for package agency operators.”
Erika Larsen, an attorney representing Maxfield and others in a lawsuit against DABS over other compensation issues, believes the changes made this year on fees are in response to the lawsuit. The 2021 suit alleges the state wrongly classifies package agents as independent contractors instead of state employees.
“It’s disingenuous if the [DABS] says this change has nothing to do with the lawsuit,” Larsen told the Millard paper. “This isn’t the only change they have attempted to implement in response to the lawsuit.”
DABS declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah aiming to inform readers across the state. Read the initial Millard County Chronicle Progress story here.
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