SBA 7(a) Grocery Store Feasibility Study in Rhode Island

Rhode Island groceries: small tickets and no franchises

Rhode Island grocers borrow under 7(a) at a midpoint of $150,000, 0.48x the national 7(a) grocery midpoint, across 27 loans totalling $11.8 million. The middle half spans $50,000 to $615,000. Not one loan is franchised (0.00%). The state is rank 27 on count, and grocery store lands 9 of 39 at home, so food retail is a major small-business borrower in a small state.

Metro City Bank and an irregular calendar

One bank fills the holder table: Metro City Bank, 6 loans, $3.9 million, per SBA's current-holder field. No county breakdown was supplied, so none is named. Annual counts are uneven: 3 loans in each of FY2017 and FY2018, none in FY2019 and FY2020, 5 loans carrying $4.6 million in FY2022, 6 in FY2025, and none so far in FY2026.

Blank outcomes

For Rhode Island groceries SBA leaves both outcome percentages unprinted, because the cohorts were too small, so a lender cannot see a failure floor. The class has no code caveat and no lessor note. Take the page as a record of size and of lenders, not of failure.

What a Rhode Island grocery study has to test

A dense state leaves little room for a weak location, so the study should map the store against others within a short drive, including supermarkets, specialty and ethnic grocers, and convenience stores. Rhode Island's neighborhood groceries often serve a particular community; the study should describe the customers and the products they buy, and show that the sales per square foot are realistic. With a midpoint of $150,000, many loans are equipment, inventory or a change of ownership, so itemise them, document the seller's sales through returns and register tapes, and review the lease term against the loan term. Test the margin, shrink and labor cost. Hold the payment steady through a slow first year, including a larger chain opening a few blocks away. Seasonal swings in the Newport and shore areas, and in student neighborhoods, should be shown month by month so the plan survives its weakest quarter. Where a building is included, the appraisal should state its value to a general retail user, since a grocery fit-out is specialised.