Grocery Store Feasibility Study in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area

Dallas-Fort Worth grocers: high rank, low share

Grocery stores place 16 of 39 among Dallas-Fort Worth's asset classes, while the area stands 13 of 412 nationally for the class. SBA approved 63 loans worth $64.2 million from FY2017 through FY2026. A location quotient of 0.61x says grocery is a thin share of local lending next to the national mix. Dallas County, TX has 27 loans, Tarrant County, TX 12 and Denton County, TX 10.

The median loan is $585,500, and the middle half runs from $137,500 to $1.5 million. Against the national class the ratio is 1.66x, much larger than the norm. Fifty-eight loans use 7(a) and 5 use 504. The franchise share is withheld by Loan Analytics for this cell, and the page leaves it blank.

The one lender named

Bank of Hope is the only holder named, with 6 loans worth $7.6 million, an average well above the median loan. No 504 holder is named. Dallas-Fort Worth lenders appear as SBA records them, yet say nothing of underwriting.

Cancellation and loss rates are absent for Dallas-Fort Worth, so silence says nothing. The record shows 5 loans and $3.2 million in FY2018, 6 loans and $2.9 million in FY2019, 8 loans and $5.7 million in FY2023, 6 loans and $8.5 million in FY2024, 10 loans and $6.3 million in FY2025 and 14 loans and $25.4 million in FY2026, a very large final year; other years are withheld. Every Dallas-Fort Worth count passes through a county match, and failed matches drop out.

What a Dallas-Fort Worth grocery study has to test

The trade area must be built from households, drive times and the chains and discount grocers already serving them. Coverage should be tested on a low margin, and the plan should show refrigeration, shrink and supplier terms line by line. A new store needs a ramp period, and that period belongs in the sources and uses. The appraisal should say how fixtures and cold cases are valued and whether another retailer could use the building. The study should state whether the store offers delivery or pickup and what that costs. It should also test the $585,500 median against the $137,500 and $1.5 million edges of the middle half, since a request at either edge changes the coverage picture. The FY2026 total of $25.4 million on 14 loans is the largest of any printed year, and a study should say whether the project resembles those larger loans.