Buying a gas station or convenience store in Jacksonville and Northeast Florida

• Strong inside sales compared with fuel, including food or coffee that brings people in on its own.
• A corner with easy access on a road people use every day, near homes, work sites or a highway exit.
• Tanks, lines and pumps in good condition, with clean inspection records from DEP and FDACS.
• A supply agreement you can live with: a reasonable remaining term, volume minimums you can hit, and no big payback if it ends.
• Register records that split sales by category and match supplier invoices and tax returns.
• A manager and core staff who have stayed for years and can run the store when you're not there.
• Pumps with current card readers and the required anti-skimming protection.

• Environmental condition. Get a Phase I environmental site assessment (a review of the site's records and history), with testing if it flags risk, plus DEP inspection reports, tank ages, leak detection records and any spill reports.
• The supply agreement. Can you take it over, what volumes does it require, and what would leaving early cost?
• Security rules. Stores selling alcohol or tobacco that open any time from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. generally need cameras, a drop safe, a silent alarm, a lit lot and clear windows (sections 812.171 and 812.173).
• Generator wiring. Stations built or substantially renovated since July 2006, and larger ones near an interstate or evacuation route, must be prewired for a generator (section 526.143).
• The seller's unpaid taxes. Buying more than half of a business or its assets can make you liable for the seller's unpaid state taxes, up to the greater of the price or the business's value (section 213.758). Get a Department of Revenue certificate of compliance before closing, and ask your attorney about also holding back part of the price.

• How much of your profit comes from fuel, and how much from inside the store?
• How old are the tanks and lines, and has the site ever had a reported leak or cleanup?
• What does your fuel supply agreement require, and how long does it have left?
• What's selling more inside, and what's selling less?
• How did the store do in the last hurricane, and does it have a generator hookup?
• Who works overnight, and how long have your main people been with you?
• Have you had any problems with skimmers, robberies or sales to minors?

This region covers Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Baker and Putnam counties: Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Beach, Orange Park, Fleming Island, Green Cove Springs, Fernandina Beach, Yulee, Macclenny and Palatka. Jacksonville merged with most of Duval County in 1968, which makes it the largest city by land area in the lower 48 states.

The economy leans on logistics, the Navy and financial services. Logistics runs through JAXPORT, major rail lines and the meeting of Interstates 95 and 10. The Navy has Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport. Insurance and health care matter too. St. Augustine, founded by the Spanish in 1565, and Amelia Island draw steady tourism. Trucking and logistics firms, the building trades, medical practices and home services all fit this market.

Northeast Florida is less seasonal than South or Southwest Florida, with fewer winter residents and more year-round employers. Direct hurricane landfalls have been less common here than on other parts of the coast, but storms still bring flooding along the St. Johns River and the beaches, so check insurance costs and flood zones.

Military families bring skilled workers and working spouses into the labor pool, though they also move on when orders change. St. Johns, Clay and Nassau have added the most new homes, and companies serving those suburbs have grown with them. Georgia is close, and some companies here serve customers across the state line. Work in Georgia may need Georgia licenses, so ask how much revenue comes from there and who holds those licenses.