Ferncroft Business Loans, a small-business funding service in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, wrote this guide for buyers looking at a convenience store or gas station in Sheboygan County. It covers deciding what you are buying, the seller records to request, the fuel supply agreement, environmental and license questions, opening inventory, how much a store costs to buy, and how these purchases can be financed.
The Local Picture
Sheboygan County had 44 gasoline station employers in 2023, with 586 employees, and just over half had fewer than five employees (County Business Patterns 2023). Eighteen had a ZIP 53081 address. Stand-alone convenience stores without fuel are a much smaller category, with three employers countywide. A buyer looking for a store in the county may be looking at a fuel station.
Step 1: Decide What You Are Buying
A station sale can include the business only, with the property leased from someone else, or the business and the real estate together. It may include the fuel equipment, or the fuel supplier may own the pumps and canopy. The answer changes the price, the financing and the risks, so pin it down first.
Step 2: Request the Records
- Fuel gallons and fuel margin by month, for two years or more
- Inside sales by category, separating lottery and tobacco from other goods
- Business tax returns and bank statements
- The fuel supply agreement, its term and whether it can be assigned
- The lease, if the property is not included
- An equipment list showing what is owned, leased or supplier-owned
If the seller's records do not match the tax returns, the price should be based on the tax returns. Partners will base their review on them.
Step 3: Fuel, Environmental and License Questions
Fuel sites carry questions that ordinary stores do not: the condition of underground tanks and lines, past releases, and the environmental reports a partner or buyer may require. Confirm with each licensing office whether licenses for tobacco, alcohol and lottery transfer to a new owner. Each takes time to resolve, and they set the closing date as much as the financing does.
What a Convenience Store Costs to Buy, and Why We Give No Figure
There is no typical price, and we do not quote one. Price depends on whether real estate is included, fuel volume and margin, inside sales and margin, the fuel agreement's terms, the condition of the equipment and the lease. A buyer should be able to explain how the price relates to the store's earnings, because a partner will ask.
Step 4: Plan the Opening Inventory
The store's stock may be counted at closing and paid for separately from the business. That can be a meaningful sum on top of the price. Inventory financing can cover it, so the stock is repaid as it sells rather than out of the buyer's cash.
The First Months After Closing
New owners may change suppliers, adjust prices, update coolers or add food service after closing. Each change takes cash at the moment the business is least familiar to you. Keep a cushion for the first months, and avoid financing every improvement at once; a partner reviewing a later request will want to see how the store performed under your ownership.
Step 5: Structure the Financing
A convenience store business loan for a purchase can be a term loan, sometimes secured by the property when it is included. Opening inventory may be financed separately, and replacement coolers or food-service equipment can go on equipment financing. Partners will want the records above, your experience running a store or managing people, and the cash you are putting in.
More detail on station funding, including loan requirements, is on gas station and convenience store funding. For county numbers, open the Sheboygan, WI page; for other station-adjacent reading, the blog.
By Ferncroft Business Loans · Updated