Liquor Store Feasibility Study in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area

Liquor stores in the San Jose area

Liquor stores hold the eleventh spot among the classes of the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area, 11 of 39, and nationally the area stands 37 of 426 for them. Its record has 27 loans and $17.3 million, FY2017 to FY2026. The location quotient, 0.83x, shows the class carrying less weight in San Jose approvals than in approvals across the country, while the area's median loan of $500,000 reads 1.11x against the class's median nationwide, a shade above. In short, the class is a minor strand of San Jose lending, and its loans run slightly larger than usual.

Size and geography

Between $237,450 and $721,500 lies the central half of the loans, a span wide enough to take in a stock-and-fixtures purchase at one end and a business with its premises at the other. Santa Clara County, CA records all 27 loans, so the whole page describes a single county. No franchise share appears on this page, nor any program split or lender.

FY2018 stands at 5 loans and $2.3 million, the only year with a positive count on the page. FY2020 is empty, 0 loans and $0: no liquor store loan was approved. Beyond these two years the counts shrink below the point where they can be shown, and a year that cannot be shown is not a year without loans. Rates on cancelled approvals and on charge-offs are held back until 30 loans stand behind them, and that bar is not met here.

What a San Jose liquor store plan must prove

Licensing comes first. A study must show that the liquor licence the business needs is held or can be obtained, that it carries over with a purchase, and what conditions attach to it. Beyond that, it has to test the customer base inside a practical distance of the site, the margin on the product mix and how much of it depends on a few categories, what inventory costs next to a median loan of $500,000, and the lease terms. Show the payment covered with room to spare when sales soften, because inventory must be carried whatever the month brings. A lender will treat the business as a going concern and may rely on the owner's record in the trade. The July 2023 list assigns the San Jose area its counties.