Buying a wholesale distribution business in Panhandle and North Florida

• Exclusive or authorized distribution rights, in writing, that a new owner can keep.
• A broad customer base with repeat orders, not one big retailer that sets the terms.
• Products customers can't easily buy direct from the manufacturer or online, or service (fast delivery, small minimum orders) they can't get elsewhere.
• Inventory that sells through steadily, with little obsolete stock.
• For importers, clean customs records and a good customs broker.
• Systems that track inventory, landed costs (the full cost including freight and duties) and margins by product and customer.
• Trademarks or private-label brands owned by the company, not the owner personally.
• Suppliers who know other people at the company besides the owner.

• Supplier agreements, and how dependent the business is on one or two suppliers or one country. Ask whether a supplier could start selling direct.
• An inventory count, its age, and how it's valued. Old stock is often worth far less than the books say.
• How much of sales goes to the biggest customers, and how long customers take to pay.
• Import costs: tariffs, freight, customs records and any open customs issues.
• Trademarks, domain names and marketplace accounts registered to the company. Marketplace accounts can be hard to transfer, so check each platform's rules.
• Product liability insurance and any recalls or safety complaints. An importer can be treated as the maker of a product it brings in.
• Sales tax filings, including sales into other states.

• Which suppliers would you need to introduce me to personally?
• Are any of your distribution rights exclusive, and are they in writing?
• How much of your inventory is more than a year old?
• How have tariffs and freight costs changed your margins?
• Do any of your products need special permits?
• What share of sales goes to your top five customers?
• How do customers find you, and how do they place orders?

This is our largest region by area. It runs from Pensacola east through Milton, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Panama City and Tallahassee, and down into North Central Florida around Gainesville, Lake City and Live Oak, with many rural counties along the way. We also include Hardee County, around Wauchula.

The economy has several anchors. The military is a big one, with Naval Air Station Pensacola, Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field and Tyndall Air Force Base. Tallahassee is the state capital and home to Florida State University and Florida A&M University, and Gainesville has the University of Florida. The beaches from Pensacola to Panama City Beach, including Walton County's coast, draw summer visitors. Inland, timber, farming and small manufacturing matter, and towns like Apalachicola and Cedar Key make their living on the water. Contractors, defense and government service firms, restaurants, lodging and farm businesses all have markets here.

Plan for distance first. Pensacola is closer to New Orleans than to Gainesville, so most companies serve one local area, and you should know exactly where the customers are. Most of the Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River runs on Central time, an hour behind Tallahassee.

The beach season peaks in summer, the opposite of South Florida, while Gainesville and Tallahassee slow down when students leave. Hurricanes have hit hard: Michael came ashore near Mexico Beach as a Category 5 in 2018, and Idalia in 2023 and Helene in 2024 struck the Big Bend coast. Military base budgets and state government spending matter to many companies. Near the Alabama and Georgia lines, ask how much revenue comes from across the border, where other states' licenses may apply. Rural counties have small labor pools, so a company's key employees matter even more here.