SBA 7(a) Grocery Store Feasibility Study in North Carolina

The North Carolina grocery cell is defined by one ratio: its median loan of $533,500 is 1.72x the nationwide 7(a) median for grocery stores. Fifty loans, $44.2 million in gross dollars and the middle half running from $150,000 to $998,750 describe a class where sizes spread widely. By loan count North Carolina ranks 19 nationally for grocery, and grocery is eighteenth among the state's 39 classes. Franchised loans are 8.0%, so most of these are independent or small-chain stores.

Few repeat lenders

The lender table lists a single institution: Truist Bank, with 5 loans and $3.2 million. Most of the cell's loans are therefore spread across many holders that do not reach the table, which tells a borrower that no one bank dominates grocery lending in the state. SBA's holder records produce the figure, and it is a volume measure only. Mecklenburg County has 10 loans, Wake 9, Cabarrus, Catawba and Guilford 3 each, and Alamance, Cumberland, Iredell, Macon and New Hanover 2 each.

Years and cancellations

Approvals were 5 each in FY2017 and FY2018, 7 in FY2019, 5 in FY2020, 3 in FY2021, a single loan in FY2022, then 5, 5, 8 and 6 through FY2026. Dollars rose to $8.0 million in FY2025. Cancelled approvals run to no less than 5.6% of those made through FY2024, and adding in undisbursed loans does not move it, so cancellations stay light.

Loss rate not published

Charge-offs are not published for this cell, and the missing rate is an absence of data rather than a clean result.

Studying a North Carolina grocery

A grocery loan funds inventory and equipment as much as a building, so the study needs working-capital sizing, refrigeration and fixture cost, and a realistic basket and traffic count against nearby competitors, including chains with lower prices. Because grocery margins run thin, coverage should be tested against a shrink in sales and a rise in labour cost. Where the borrower buys the property, the appraiser should split the property from the operating store, and the report should say whether a different grocer or another retail use could take over the building. Delivery contracts and wholesale terms deserve review.