SBA 7(a) Grocery Store Feasibility Study in Maine

Bangor Savings and a late surge

Maine grocers take smaller loans than their national peers. A $170,000 median is 0.55x the nationwide level, with a spread from $91,900 to $810,000 that is wide enough to include both a village market and a full-line store. SBA approved 29 loans between FY2017 and FY2026, worth $19.3 million. Maine is 23 among states by loan count, and grocery holds 11 of 39 places among Maine's classes. Franchise affiliation is 13.8% of loans. Bangor Savings Bank, the only lender listed, shows 7 loans and $1.5 million in SBA's present-holder data.

Counties and the calendar

York County has 9 loans and Cumberland 7, followed by Androscoggin with 3, Franklin, Knox and Waldo with 2, and Aroostook, Hancock, Penobscot and Somerset with 1. FY2018 and FY2019 show 0 loans and $0. FY2024 is the standout, with 9 loans and $10.1 million, followed by 5 loans and $2.5 million in FY2025 and 1 loan of $975,000 in FY2026. So over half of the class's dollars arrived in a single year, and a reader should not assume that year represents a normal pace.

What is withheld

Neither cancellation nor charge-off is quantified for grocers here; SBA's cohort is thin, and nothing in that gap implies zero. The same cohort limit means this page cannot say how many grocers that borrowed later closed or sold, so lenders will want the applicant's own operating history set beside the study.

What a Maine grocery study has to test

Margins in grocery are thin, so a Maine study should begin with the catchment: year-round residents, seasonal population, distance to the next supermarket and the share of spending a small store can win. It should show product mix, sales per square foot, shrink and the labour needed to stay open across long hours. Cold storage and refrigeration are major capital items and need quotes. If the store is an independent buying into a wholesale or cooperative supply, the cost of goods under that arrangement must be shown. The payment should be covered in a winter case and when a larger store opens within driving range. Where real estate is financed, an appraiser should value the building with and without the grocery business. Seasonal residents can far more demand in some towns and vanish in winter, so the monthly sales table carries more weight than any annual total.