Liquor Store Feasibility Study in Nevada

A class that Nevada finances less often than most, with larger loans

Nevada's liquor store record is unusual in pairing a low frequency with a high ticket. The location quotient is 0.41x, so liquor stores take well under the national share of Nevada's SBA lending, and the class lands 15 of 39 inside the state. Counted across states, Nevada is 29 of 53. Yet the median loan of $680,000 is 1.51x the national median for the class, and 29 loans totalling $25.0 million were approved over FY2017 to FY2026.

Structure and geography

The middle half of loans spans $177,000 to $1.6 million. SBA 7(a) accounts for 23 loans and SBA 504 for 6. That mix, with a visible 504 minority, suggests some borrowers owned or bought the store building. Franchising is absent, at 0.00%. Zions Bancorporation, National Association heads the 7(a) lenders with 5 loans but only $200,000 in total, so its loans here are small compared with the state median, a reminder that loan count and dollars can point different ways. Clark County carries 16 of the loans, followed by Washoe with 7 and Carson City with 5; Nye has 1. Annual approvals went from 6 in FY2017 to 1 in FY2018 and again to 1 in FY2026.

Floors and withheld values

Nevada shows no printed cancellation or charge-off rate: the cohort is short of loans, so we give no number and do not describe either rate as zero. Rates anywhere on this site are minimums.

Tests for a Nevada store

For a Nevada liquor store the licence comes first: the type, its availability and its cost are set locally, and a transfer or new issue can decide whether a site works. It should then test the trade area's resident base and the visitor traffic that drives a Clark County store, the competing grocery and convenience outlets that also sell alcohol, and the margin a store earns after inventory and rent. Because Nevada loans run larger than the national norm, the study should compare the asking price of a business or building with what its earnings can service. Run loan-payment coverage on cautious sales; because the appraisal values a going concern, inventory and licence treatment need to be explicit.