💼 Tailored Financing: UCS offers customized loan solutions specifically for liquor store owners, addressing unique industry needs.
💳 Flexible Loan Options: Access to various financing types, including business lines of credit, term loans, and merchant cash advances.
⚙️ Equipment & Inventory Financing: Loans available for purchasing equipment and stocking inventory, crucial for liquor store operations.
🕒 Quick Approval Process: Streamlined application with fast approvals, often within a few business days.
💳 Bad Credit Considered: Alternative underwriting methods allow for loan approvals even with less-than-perfect credit scores.
📈 Growth Support: Financing options designed to support expansion, renovation, and marketing efforts for liquor stores.
📝 Minimal Documentation: Simplified application process with minimal paperwork required.
📞 Free Consultation: No-cost, no-obligation consultations available to discuss financing needs.
Liquor store owners face challenges such as high overhead costs and securing working capital. For most liquor stores, the key to success is focusing on high-profit items. This would be a lot easier if the demand weren’t so difficult to predict. The only way to determine what customers like is by purchasing a variety of items and observing their performance.
Having a significant amount of money tied up in inventory can limit your ability to capitalize on bulk discounts and stock up for the holidays. When you factor in periodic expenses like updating your security system and renewing your various licenses, your cash flow could be in serious trouble.
United Capital Source offers business loans for liquor stores, enabling them to capitalize on lucrative opportunities amid unavoidable financial challenges.
Liquor Store Business Loans are specifically designed for the cash flow cycles and recurring expenses of liquor stores. Besides covering short-term needs and larger purchases, these business loans can help you pay for local advertising and stay current with vendors or manufacturers.
Liquor Store Business Loans can take the form of:
Liquor retail business owners often need financing for inventory, renovations, and marketing efforts. Each loan program listed above can suit a different type of expense or cash flow issue.
For example, liquor stores experience a massive surge in demand during the holidays. However, discounts for bulk orders are typically available during the off-season, when sales are lower. Liquor Store Business Loans can allow you to purchase large quantities of popular items during slower periods, especially those with high profit margins.
Since liquor stores tend to conduct high volumes of credit or debit card sales, a Merchant Cash Advance can be a sensible option for ordering bulk inventory. Merchant cash advances provide funding based on a percentage of future credit card sales. When sales are slow, your payments are smaller. A merchant cash advance is more affordable when payments are spread out over time. Thus, you’d save money when sales drop again after the holidays.
Since demand is difficult to predict, you might find that an item is performing unexpectedly well. This is the ideal scenario for a business line of credit, designed for moderately sized, short-term expenses. Your interest rate would be very low because it wouldn’t take long to generate the revenue to pay off your full balance. A business line of credit can ultimately help you practice “last-minute” inventory management, which means placing orders when you have a solid handle on demand. You only pay interest on the funds you use. As long as you continuously pay back what you borrow, your credit line replenishes and can be used repeatedly.
Another small business lending option to consider is equipment financing. Liquor stores may require equipment purchases for items such as beer, wine, and liquor coolers or refrigerators, as well as point-of-sale systems. With this type of small business financing, the equipment is the collateral for the loan.
Established small business owners with excellent credit may consider SBA loans for more significant financing needs, such as commercial real estate financing. SBA loans can be used for working capital, buying merchandise, and refinancing debt.
The maximum loan amount for an SBA 7(a) loan for a liquor store is up to $5 million. SBA 7(a) loans have repayment terms generally up to 25 years for real estate purchases. Liquor licenses cannot typically be purchased using SBA loans due to associated risks. SBA loans for liquor sales businesses usually have fixed monthly payments.
| LOAN TYPES | MAX AMOUNTS | RATES | SPEED |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merchant Cash Advances | $7.5k – $1m | Starting at 1-6% p/mo | 1-2 business days |
| SBA Loan | $50k-$10m | Starting at Prime + 2.75% | 8-12 weeks |
| Business Term Loan | $10k to $5m | Starting at 1-4% p/mo | 1-3 business days |
| Business Line of Credit | $1k to $250k | Starting at 1% p/mo | 1-3 business days |
| Receivables/Invoice Financing | $10k-$10m | Starting at 1% p/mo | 1-2 weeks |
| Equipment Financing | Up to $5m per piece | Starting at 3.5% (SBA) | 3-10+ business days |
| Revenue Based Business Loans | $10K – $5m | Starting at 1-6% p/mo | 1-2 business days |
Liquor Store Business Loans can solve an array of inventory-related challenges. To maximize profitability, liquor stores are often recommended to strive for a high inventory turnover ratio. This is only possible if you have the means to order the right amounts of the right items on a cyclical basis. However, many stores may not have sufficient cash on hand to order specific items at these intervals.
Liquor Store Business Loans allow you to maintain your inventory management system despite fluctuations in revenue and sudden expenses. In other words, your ordering capabilities wouldn’t be hampered by the need to update your security system, fix your refrigeration unit, or renew your licenses. The same concept applies to incorrect inventory forecasting. You can still capitalize on discounts for bulk orders or high-profit items, even though most of your working capital is sitting on your shelves.
Liquor Store Business Loans can also help you stay current on vendor payments, making you eligible for discounts or longer payment terms.
Taking on debt is always risky in highly competitive industries with unpredictable demand. You might order a new item only to discover that customers would instead purchase it from the grocery store in your shopping center. And it’s important to remember that ordering bulk inventory can do more harm than good if it sits on your shelves for too long. You can still struggle to pay your bills even after selling large quantities of low-profit items.
Significant expenses also tend to create other costs naturally. For this reason, many businesses unknowingly end up borrowing too little. Let’s say you’ve just used a business loan to purchase additional inventory for the holidays. However, this new inventory won’t be of any benefit to you if you don’t market it effectively with local advertising.
Lastly, Liquor Store Business Loans can be particularly risky for younger businesses. It can take several years for new liquor stores to truly understand the preferences of their average customer. Thus, it might not be wise to double down on certain items when you haven’t quite determined your niche just yet.
Pros:
Cons:
The amount of paperwork required depends on the product you choose. Funds can be approved and distributed for most products within 1-3 business days. Here’s how to apply:
The first step is choosing the most sensible solution to the problem at hand. This should require some research, as each product is designed for different types of expenses and cash flow cycles. Are you looking to cover a short-term or long-term expense? Is demand expected to increase or decrease in the coming months?
Considering the funds’ purpose will also help us determine the correct borrowing and terms for your needs.
Here are the documents and information required for Liquor Store Business Loans:
Driver’s license
Voided business check
Bank statements from the past three months
Invoice for equipment (for Equipment Financing)
Credit card processing statements from the past three months (for Merchant Cash Advance)
SBA loans require additional documents and information, such as financial statements. To learn what’s needed for the SBA-backed loans, visit our SBA loan page.
You can begin the application process by calling us or filling out our one-page online application. Either way, you’ll be asked to enter the information from the previous section along with your desired funding amount.
Once you apply, a representative will contact you to explain the repayment structure, rates, and terms of your available options. This way, you won’t have to worry about any surprises or hidden fees during repayment.
If you’re approved, we’ll contact you within 24 hours. After closing, funds for most business financing products should appear in your bank account within 24 hours to one week.
Your business loan isn’t just a way to get financing for your business. It’s also an excellent opportunity to start building (or improving) your credit.
Regardless of the type of business loan you get, make all your required payments on time and in full. If you get a business credit line or another form of revolving credit, keep your balance below the credit limit.
Consistently making your business financing payments on time and in full will positively impact your credit. And that means preferred rates and terms when you next need business financing.
If your application is declined, it’s possible that you applied for the wrong product to meet your cash flow needs. We would likely recommend a different product with a less hazardous repayment structure in this case.
Your application might also be declined if it is determined that you cannot afford to take on more debt at this time.
If your credit score is holding you back from accessing financing, consider working with a reputable credit repair service to raise your scores.
Between 2006 and 2015, liquor stores took out more than $2.3 billion in SBA 7(a) loans. Liquor stores are viewed favorably by lenders due to their stability and recession-resistant nature. The Small Business Administration partially guarantees SBA loans and prefers lenders to work with proven industries. SBA lenders include banks, credit unions, and alternative lenders.
However, SBA Loans carry very steep requirements. Borrowers must have excellent credit, at least two years of business experience, and a minimum of $360,000 in annual revenue. SBA loans are often more accessible than traditional bank loans, but still come with stringent qualifications.
Significant paperwork is also involved, including business tax returns, profit and loss statements, personal tax returns, and personal financial statements. Unlike other products, the intended purpose of the funds can impact your application.
Liquor Store Business Loans can be used for a myriad of purposes, including:
Purchasing inventory
Covering operational expenses like payroll
Upgrading technology
Repairing equipment
Renovating your physical space (interior or exterior)
Moving to or adding another location
Advertising
Periodic expenses like renewing your liquor license
Paying off other existing debts
Yes, you can use a business loan to purchase an existing business. There are approximately 50,000 wine, beer, and liquor stores in the United States. You can potentially use a business acquisition loan to purchase a liquor store business.
However, this is only possible if you’re currently running another business, such as an existing liquor store, with strong cash flow and profitability. You’ll also need excellent credit and (most likely) collateral. Most lenders require excellent personal and business credit. Business loan providers rarely approve liquor store acquisition loans if you’ve never owned one before.
Yes, five of the six products mentioned above are accessible for borrowers with bad credit. Your rates may be higher, and your terms may be shorter because bad credit makes you more likely to default. Online lenders and alternative lenders often offer more flexible financing options than traditional banks.
However, if you have strong cash flow or can provide collateral, your bad credit may have less impact on your rates and terms. We can also customize your terms and payment frequency to ensure that you can make payments while staying current on other bills.
For some products, your credit score is irrelevant. Approval for a merchant cash advance is based on your debit and credit card sales volume. With accounts receivable factoring, approval depends on your customer’s creditworthiness, not your own.
The only product that is not accessible with bad credit is SBA loans. Compared to other products, SBA loans offer higher borrowing limits, lower interest rates, and longer repayment terms. If you have bad credit, you’ll be assigned shorter terms to ensure you repay the loan in full.
Fraud Disclosure:
Please be aware that individuals have been fraudulently misrepresenting to business owners (and others) that United Capital Source, Inc. (“UCS”) can assist small businesses in receiving government grants and other forgivable business loans, when in fact those grants or loans do not exist or are not available. These individuals have ulterior motives and are engaging in the unauthorized use of the names, trademarks, domain names, and logos of UCS in an attempt to commit fraud upon unsuspecting small business owners.
UCS will never communicate with a prospective client on Facebook, Facebook Messenger, or any other type of social media. Further, any email communications will always come from an official UCS email address and not a Gmail, Yahoo, or other email domain. If you believe you have been contacted by someone posing as an employee of UCS, please email [email protected].
