Liquor Store Feasibility Study in Illinois

A big book that looks like the nation

Illinois is one of the larger markets for SBA liquor store lending, with 275 approvals worth $214.8 million over FY2017 to FY2026, placing the state 7 of 53, with package stores holding 1.16x their national share of its approvals by location quotient. Within the state, package stores come 9 of 39 by count. Yet the loans themselves sit close to the national median: the median approval of $454,000 is 1.01x the national liquor store median, and no single metric marks the cell as unusual, so the lender mix and the county spread below carry the description.

Byline Bank and Cook County

Of the 275, 271 went through 7(a) and 4 through SBA 504, and franchise share is just 0.36%, so these are independent stores, financed almost entirely through 7(a). Byline Bank is the dominant holder with 57 loans worth $63.9 million. The Huntington National Bank holds 32 worth $8.7 million and U.S. Bank, National Association 26 worth $11.8 million, while Millennium Bank's 14 and Centerstone SBA Lending, Inc.'s 12 carry $18.5 million and $13.3 million. The middle half of approvals spans $210,000 to $1.1 million. Cook County accounts for 143 approvals, with DuPage at 30 and Lake at 27. Approvals hit 42, worth $37.5 million, in FY2025, up from 21 in FY2017.

How the loans performed

Cancellations took at least 13.6% of Illinois package-store approvals dated FY2017 to FY2024, with a 15.9% ceiling that adds undisbursed loans. Charge-offs are a small part of the record. Of 115 loans funded in FY2017 to FY2021, a 1.7% floor has been charged off, and the charge-off floor within five years is 0.00%.

For a buyer, an ordinary loan profile still leaves the study a lot to prove, because a package store purchase rests on the seller's sales history. A feasibility study for an Illinois liquor store should test the seller's reported sales and margins against tax filings and supplier records, and confirm that the liquor license transfers and on what terms. Demand rests on the trade area's households, the competing package stores, grocery and drug chains that sell alcohol nearby, and any local licensing limits. The budget has to carry the purchase price, opening inventory and any building. Test the coverage of debt service against sales that fall short of the seller's best year. If the store's building is part of the purchase, an appraiser will separate the value of a small retail building from the going concern, and the study should support the business value that sits above the bricks.

Named lenders here are the holders SBA reports today, and the cancellation and loss floors can rise as Illinois loans still outstanding age.