SBA 7(a) Liquor Store Feasibility Study in South Carolina

Liquor stores rank eleventh of 39 among South Carolina's 7(a) classes, and the state is twentieth on loans counted. The cell has 56 loans and $38.2 million. Median loans of $368,500 come to 0.84x the national 7(a) figure for liquor stores, and half the loans fall between $150,000 and $799,500. Nothing in the cell was franchised, which fits a trade of independent owners and licence holders. Cancelled approvals were a minimum of 15.6% of those to FY2024, with no change on the broader count.

Three banks with very different averages

Citizens Bank is credited with 6 loans and $2.8 million, and TD Bank, National Association with 6 loans but only $210,000, a strikingly small average. Truist Bank has 5 loans and $5.7 million, the largest average of the three. The pattern shows the same product financed at very different scales: tiny acquisitions at one bank, larger store purchases elsewhere. These are SBA's records of notes held and carry no judgment.

Coast, upstate and midlands

Horry County has 10 loans, Greenville 9, Charleston 6, and Beaufort, Berkeley, Dorchester, Richland, Sumter and York 3 each, with Anderson at 2. Horry and Charleston are tourist coasts, Greenville and York upstate, so demand sources differ widely across the list.

Years

FY2017 had 7 loans and $4.0 million, FY2018 4 loans but only $370,000, FY2019 2 loans and $5.7 million, and FY2020 3 loans at $911,000. After FY2021's 7 and FY2022's 4, FY2023 reached 12 loans and $3.8 million, the busiest year, FY2024 6 loans and $7.0 million, FY2025 9 loans and $8.0 million, and FY2026 2 loans and $1.5 million. In FY2019 two loans carried $5.7 million, a reminder of how much one large purchase can distort a year.

Missing loss data and study needs

Loss percentages are missing because too few loans have run long enough. A study for a liquor store should begin with the licence: whether it transfers with the sale, any quota or distance rules, and the timing of approval. It should then test sales per square foot from the location, competing stores and grocery sales of beer and wine, the margin by product type, and inventory financing. Coverage should be run with a decline in sales after a change of ownership. Should property be financed too, the appraiser should value it separately from the business and the licence.