Buying a hardware, building supply or garden store in Southwest Florida

• Counter staff who can tell a customer how to fix a running toilet or wire a switch. That advice is why people pay a little more than at a big box store.
• Inventory that sells steadily, with little dead stock, and computer counts that match the shelves.
• Contractor accounts spread across many builders and trades, plus steady walk-in homeowners.
• Service income from keys, paint, rentals and repairs.
• Contractors who pay on time, with few old unpaid balances.
• A convenient spot for a neighborhood or for job sites, with parking and room for trucks to load.
• For garden centers, someone who keeps the plants healthy, so few are thrown away.

• Inventory at closing. Have it counted independently at cost, leaving out damaged, discontinued and obsolete stock. It's often a big part of the price.
• Co-op or dealer agreements. Will the membership carry over? What equity stake or minimum purchases does it require? And if it doesn't, what happens to the sign?
• Contractor accounts. Get a list of what each contractor owes and for how long, decide whether you buy those balances or the seller collects them, and see how sales held up when local building slowed.
• Storm years. A hurricane can lift one year's sales well above normal, so look at several years.
• Equipment. Check the age of forklifts, delivery trucks, paint machines and any rental fleet.
• The seller's unpaid taxes. Buying more than half of a business or its assets can make you liable for the seller's unpaid sales tax and other Department of Revenue taxes, up to the price you paid or the value of what you bought, whichever is greater (section 213.758). To protect yourself, get a certificate of compliance from the department before closing. You may also hold back part of the price and pay it to the state within 30 days. Let your attorney handle this.

• Which departments and customers bring in the most profit, and how has that changed over the years?
• How much of your stock hasn't sold in the past year, and what do you do with it?
• Who are your biggest contractor accounts, and how quickly do they pay?
• How do sales in a hurricane year compare with a normal year?
• Which of your counter staff do customers ask for by name, and are they planning to stay?
• Are you in a buying cooperative, and what would I need to do to keep the membership?
• If you were staying another ten years, what would you add: rentals, delivery or a bigger garden section?

This region covers Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Sarasota and Manatee counties on the Gulf coast and Hendry, Glades and DeSoto inland: Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Naples, Bonita Springs, Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Sarasota, Venice, Bradenton, LaBelle, Clewiston, Moore Haven and Arcadia. The coastal economy runs on people who choose to live or spend the winter here: retirees, seasonal residents, and the construction, real estate, health care, financial and home services that follow them. Tourism, golf and boating add to it.

Inland, the economy is agricultural: sugarcane around Clewiston, citrus, cattle and vegetables, with Immokalee in Collier County a center for farm work. The building trades, pool, landscaping and pest control companies, property managers, medical and dental practices, and marine businesses tend to do well along the coast.

This is one of Florida's most seasonal markets. From roughly January through April, restaurants, shops and service companies run at full speed. Summers are slower, so look at monthly revenue, not only the yearly total. The coast has taken two major hurricanes in recent years: Ian came ashore at Cayo Costa in Lee County in September 2022, and Milton at Siesta Key in Sarasota County in October 2024. Rebuilding brought a wave of work for contractors that won't last forever, so ask how much recent revenue came from storm repairs. Insurance costs and flood zones weigh on every property.

Housing costs near the coast make hiring hard, especially around Naples. New communities east of Interstate 75 in Lee, Collier, Charlotte and Manatee keep service companies busy.