Buying a liquor store in South Florida
South Florida has 64 established liquor stores by our count: companies in business at least 15 years that still file with the state every year and aren't part of a larger group. Of those, 62% have been in business 20 years or more. Most will never be listed for sale, and many of their owners have never been asked.
What it takes to own one
Liquor stores in South Florida come in every size. Here's what owning one could look like at three levels, from a solid company to one of the leaders, with a small business loan covering most of the price.
- Earns about
- $84,000 a year
- Price about
- $197,000
- Your cash
- $28,000
- Could pay you
- up to $48,000 a year
- Earns about
- $142,000 a year
- Price about
- $335,000
- Your cash
- $47,000
- Could pay you
- up to $82,000 a year
- Earns about
- $214,000 a year
- Price about
- $502,000
- Your cash
- $70,000
- Could pay you
- up to $123,000 a year
Earnings are owner earnings: profit plus what the owner pays themselves, before loan payments and taxes. They and the prices are our estimates from public records, not the owners' figures, and we value companies like these at about 2.4 times a year's owner earnings. Your cash covers the down payment and closing costs, and what the business could pay you is what's left after the loan payments and the cushion lenders require. The more cash you bring, the further up you can go.
Age, size and location
Revenue is our estimate from public records, grouped into wide ranges.
| In business | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under 20 years | 24 |
| 20 to 29 years | 28 |
| 30 to 39 years | 8 |
| 40 years or more | 4 |
| Estimated yearly revenue | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under $1M | 22 |
| $1M to $2M | 8 |
| $2M to $4M | 3 |
| $4M to $8M | 2 |
| County | Companies |
|---|---|
| Miami-Dade | 30 |
| Palm Beach | 18 |
| Broward | 14 |
| Other counties | 2 |
| Town | Companies |
|---|---|
| Miami | 18 |
What the best liquor stores have in common
- Steady sales all year, not just at the holidays, or a winter peak that shows up clearly in several years of records.
- A clean, current inventory and a point-of-sale system that tracks every bottle, so you can see what sells and what sits.
- A visible location with parking, plus a long lease or the building itself.
- A record of paying distributors on time.
- Staff who check IDs every time, and no violations for sales to minors on the license.
- A reason to choose it over the supermarket next door: a deep wine or craft spirits selection, staff who know the products, delivery or a loyal neighborhood following.
- Little loss to theft and breakage, shown by regular counts that match the books.
What to check before you buy
- The license's share of the price. Ask a beverage license attorney or broker what quota licenses in that county have sold for lately.
- Distributor credit. Distributors may give a store credit only until the tenth day after the week of the sale. If a store pays late, every distributor can cut it off until it pays (section 561.42). Confirm the seller is paid up, and have cash to pay for stock almost as fast as it sells.
- Inventory at closing. Count it with the seller, pay the seller's cost, and leave out damaged or out-of-date stock.
- 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 its value (section 213.758). Get a Department of Revenue certificate of compliance before closing, and ask your attorney about holding back part of the price.
- The license history with ABT. A license won in a drawing less than three years ago carries a much larger transfer fee (section 561.32).
Questions to ask the owner
- How did you get the license, and has it ever had a violation or a lien?
- Which brands and types of drinks make you the most money, and how much stock hasn't moved in six months?
- What do sales look like month by month, and how much comes from the holidays or winter?
- Which distributors do you buy from, and has any of them ever put you on cash only?
- How long have your manager and clerks been with you, and how do they handle ID checks?
- How long is left on the lease, and would the landlord sign a new one with me?
- What do your regulars come to you for that the supermarket liquor stores don't offer?
To learn what these companies do, which licenses they need and how ownership works, read our full guide to buying a liquor store in Florida.
Owning a company in South Florida
The local economy
South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.
Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.
What's different about owning a company here
Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.
Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.