High Volume Grocery Market with Liquor & Real Estate, 47-Year Monterey County CA

$2.9M

Revenue

$600K

SDE

6.2x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a neighborhood grocery market established in 1979 and located just off Highway 101 in Monterey County, California. The store runs roughly $240,000 per month in gross sales (about $2.88M annually) plus additional commission income, and it functions as a true one-stop shop for the surrounding residential community. Its differentiator is a full-service butcher department that draws steady foot traffic from customers who want fresh cut meat, supplemented by a hot food counter serving fried chicken and ready-to-eat meals.

The market also carries beer, wine, and liquor under a transferable ABC Type-21 license, which is the single most valuable and defensible piece of the operation. Liquor licenses in California coastal counties are supply-constrained and hard to obtain, which raises the barrier to entry for any would-be competitor. The store operates daily 8am to 9pm out of a roughly 6,880 square foot building on a 12,150 square foot lot with ample parking, both of which are included in the asking price.

At $3.7M for $600K in cash flow, the headline is a 6.17x multiple, but that number folds in the real estate. Backing out the owned property, the operating business trades far cheaper, and the buyer walks away owning an appreciating hard asset in a tight coastal market. This is a boring, durable, cash-generating staple retailer with a moat in its license and location.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is grounded in essential daily consumption: groceries, fresh meat, and beverages are repeat-purchase staples that generate consistent cash flow across cycles. At roughly $2.88M in annual sales plus commission income throwing off $600K in cash flow, the business shows a healthy blended margin for a grocery format, likely boosted by the higher-margin liquor and butcher categories.
The moat is the ABC Type-21 liquor license, which is included and transferable. California coastal liquor licenses are quota-restricted and expensive to acquire on the open market, so this alone is a meaningful barrier to any new competitor trying to replicate the one-stop offering nearby.
The full butcher department and hot food counter differentiate this from a commodity convenience store and pull in destination traffic. Fresh meat and ready-to-eat meals carry better margins than packaged goods and create a reason for the community to choose this store over a chain, reinforcing 47 years of local loyalty.
You are buying the dirt too. Owning the roughly 6,880 square foot building on a 12,150 square foot lot removes landlord risk, locks in occupancy cost, and gives you an appreciating asset in a supply-constrained Monterey County market that backstops the downside on the operating business.

How to improve it

Separate the real estate value from the operating business value in your model within the first 90 days. Get an independent appraisal on the property so you know the true operating multiple, then structure the SBA financing to reflect the split between real estate and goodwill for better terms and clearer economics.
Push margin mix toward liquor, butcher, and hot food, which are the highest-margin categories. Expand the ready-to-eat and prepared foods program with more grab-and-go options, since a working-community customer base off Highway 101 will pay for convenience at meal times.
Install or upgrade a modern POS with inventory tracking and category-level margin reporting. A 47-year-old store likely runs on gut feel; real data on shrink, dead SKUs, and per-category velocity typically unlocks several points of margin in the first year.
Add delivery and pickup through DoorDash, Instacart, or a local service to capture the commission income line more aggressively and reach customers beyond walking distance. This turns a fixed-footprint store into a wider catchment without new real estate.
Audit labor and hours against sales by daypart. Daily 8am to 9pm is broad; tightening staffing to match traffic and cross-training the butcher and hot food staff can lift SDE without hurting the customer experience.
Negotiate better vendor terms and join or upgrade a buying co-op or wholesale program. On $2.88M of cost of goods, even a one to two point improvement in purchasing drops straight to cash flow and is often available simply by consolidating suppliers.

Diligence notes

The industry was listed as Healthcare, which is clearly wrong; this is a retail grocery and liquor store. Verify all financials directly, because a mislabeled listing signals loose broker documentation and the disclaimer explicitly says the seller's representations are unverified.
Reconcile the $240,000 per month gross sales claim against actual bank deposits, POS reports, and sales tax filings (SBOE returns) for at least three years. Grocery is thin-margin, so a $600K cash flow on $2.88M revenue implies a strong blended margin that must be substantiated before you trust the 6.17x.
Confirm the ABC Type-21 liquor license is clean, current, and genuinely transferable to your buying entity, since license transfer can be slow and is subject to state approval. Also verify the tobacco license and health permit status, as any lapse or violation history affects value and closing timeline.
Get a real estate appraisal, environmental Phase I (the property has a grease receptor and refrigeration, and older sites can have contamination or underground tank history), and a facilities inspection on the multiple walk-in coolers and freezers. Refrigeration failure in a grocery store is a catastrophic single point of loss.
Clarify the reason for sale, listed only as Other Business Interests, and whether the seller will provide any transition support, which was not disclosed. A 47-year owner relationship with vendors and the community is a key asset, so lock down a training and handover period before closing.

Source

Originally listed on BizBen. View original listing →