Sell the Texas independent the wet-dry map decides

Texas is too big for one grocery multiple. Houston’s Bellaire–Sharpstown–Gulfton corridors, Dallas–Fort Worth’s Pleasant Grove and Plano Asian stretches, San Antonio under H-E-B home weather, Austin specialty occupancy, and El Paso / Rio Grande Valley border trade each need their own teaser—before anyone opens the TABC wet-dry map. County Business Patterns 2023 counts 3,739 NAICS 445110 establishments. Vintage 2024 population is 31,290,831 as of July 1, 2024. That is the largest grocery map in this batch, and it still is not a statewide asking price. SDE from the corridor you actually run is what lenders believe.

Owners ready to exit quietly should recast earnings first, then book a confidential intro with Grocery Store Business Broker — HedgeStone Business Advisors, led by Jason Taken. Email jason.taken@hedgestone.com. Search-side readers belong on buy a grocery store in Texas.

Five metros, five teasers

Houston holds dense Asian and Hispanic independent corridors on Bellaire, Sharpstown, and Gulfton. Live tanks, produce, and import decide the week—format essays: sell an Asian grocery and sell a Hispanic grocery. Harris County versus City of Houston health is a real split; do not paste Arlington streets onto this file.

Dallas–Fort Worth mixes Pleasant Grove, Arlington, and Plano Asian corridors with conventional densification. San Antonio / South Texas forces independents to name trips H-E-B still leaves. Austin is high occupancy and specialty. El Paso / RGV is border trade—bilingual hours and vendor lists inland buyers mis-read. Metro deep-dives: Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio. This pack does not publish asking rents or metro population shares.

H-E-B, Kroger, Albertsons / Tom Thumb / Randalls, and Fiesta (verify current ownership) are competitive weather. Tour them, then return to this independent’s scan. An H-E-B multiple does not price a Plano Asian box. Wholesaler consent—McLane, UNFI, or others by format—is its own calendar (wholesaler agreements).

Houston Asian and Hispanic corridors punish buyers who stock a North Texas conventional set—live tanks and import houses do not appear overnight. DFW independents that survive Kroger and Albertsons densification usually win on language, hours, or specialty, not on matching banner payroll. San Antonio boxes next to H-E-B need a clear trip story—not a hope that density disappears. Austin occupancy can break thin specialty weeks if the CIM hides labor. El Paso / RGV border trade can inflate or empty a week with peso and cross-border rhythm; demand a full year of scan before anyone treats border volume as a straight line. Buying an ethnic market outside your community applies when the buyer does not already shop that aisle.

City-versus-county health desks disagree across metros—confirm the letter for this address. Package-store spirits are not beer-wine; write the class separately in the CIM. Working capital must cover SNAP lag, TABC calendars, health-file lag, and a Monday drop—working capital and cash to close. Asset purchase essentials and taxes on selling keep allocation with the CPA. A post-closing 90-day plan matters when EBT is down and the cooler still has to run. Co-tenancy and exclusive-use clauses in centers that also hold H-E-B or Kroger belong in the LOI before civilians discover them—CAM and exclusive use matter.

Wet-dry precincts before package-store spirits

Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission must approve. Beer and wine are common in wet jurisdictions—verify county and precinct wet/dry status for this address. Package-store off-premise spirits are a separate class with ownership limits; publicly traded retailers face extra restrictions. Texas is not treated here as a general grocery-spirits state. Do not fold package-store cash into grocery SDE without the class paper. Liquor diligence and state alcohol regime belong in the LOI.

Retail food sits with Texas DSHS and local health. Incoming operators file new. WIC sits with Texas HHS — WIC. Lottery and tobacco are separate counters. After NDA, name the health desk; early marketing stays regional so it does not identify the only Gulfton independent on that stretch.

Comptroller Publication 96-280

Eligible grocery food is generally state-sales-tax exempt. Prepared food, many heated items, and defined snack and soft-drink categories are taxable—confirm Comptroller Publication 96-280 and code the deli and steam table. A CIM that says “Texas food is exempt” without the prepared split invents remittance (grocery sales tax guide). Hot bars and fountain rings that stay miscoded show up when remittance does not match departmental sales.

Asset sales need Comptroller clearance and successor diligence (bulk sales). Dirt conveyance uses a Texas real-estate licensee. Jason Taken and HedgeStone are not claiming a Texas brokerage license. WHD July 1, 2026 lists Texas at federal $7.25—recast actual wages and Texas Workforce Commission posters. Houston crews above the floor stay at actual pay.

Quiet process on a huge map

Even with 3,739 CBP establishments, corridor gossip is fast. Counsel and CPA first. Blind teasers name a Texas region, format, and inventory at cost—not the only Asian or Hispanic independent on that Sharpstown stretch. After NDA: departmental sales, lease abstract, TABC status, and 96-280 remittance notes. Keep the sale confidential until managers must know for assignment or training.

Strip owner pay and personal items. Move related-party rent to market when needed. Reject inventory add-backs. Anchor weeks with three years of financials and scan data. Count at cost—closing inventory. Hold back unsellable. Treat over-advances as debt.

SNAP authorization does not transfer. The buyer files a new USDA FNS application; write it into the LOI and capitalize EBT lag. SNAP retailer counts are null here (SNAP when you sell). Federal HFFI may touch Houston, border, or rural tracts—verify notices, invent nothing.

People decide Houston corridor and border weeks. A Spanish-speaking meat crew in Gulfton, a live-tank specialist on Bellaire, or a bilingual closer in the Valley is often the going concern. Write transition hours that protect that mix. Seller financing can bridge TABC lag—seller financing. Competition analysis names trips H-E-B, Kroger, and Albertsons still leave. Related-party rent must move to market when the next operator pays a third-party landlord. Reject inventory add-backs. Over-advances on wholesaler accounts travel—disclose them.

Wet precincts and dry pockets can sit miles apart; a buyer who underwrote beer-wine in Harris County can still meet a dry map in another county. Package-store ownership limits surprise buyers who treated spirits as a grocery aisle. Publicly traded ownership can tighten package-store options further—verify TABC before the CIM prices whiskey. Austin specialty weeks that ignore occupancy invent SDE; San Antonio weeks that ignore H-E-B invent trips. El Paso / RGV files that show only strong peso weeks invent a year. Demand departmental sales, EBT settlement, and a wet-dry print for this address in the same data room.

Comptroller Publication 96-280 coding errors on hot bars and fountain show up in diligence when remittance does not match the tape. Show how the POS splits prepared food. Lottery and tobacco are separate retailer files from beer-wine and from package-store class—WIC, lottery, tobacco. Put the NDA in front of scan before corridor gossip names the box.

Price the corridor week

Occupancy comes from this lease’s base, CAM, tax, and insurance over sales. No invented Houston or Austin rent per square foot. Listing-site multiples are method context—not a Texas sold-comp and not an H-E-B multiple. Argue from recast earnings on the valuation hub and how to value a grocery.

Lease diligence covers assignment and exclusive use. Owned dirt is a second asset (lease vs real estate). SBA 7(a) can fund ownership change up to the published $5 million maximum when the week carries the note. Lenders want TABC path, SNAP, and lease term. Spanish-speaking meat crews that are the recast belong in transition drafting.

TABC, health, SNAP on the LOI

Date TABC approval (beer-wine and package-store class if separate), the correct health desk, SNAP filing, Comptroller clearance, and landlord consent—seller LOI priorities. Use staff and WARN notes when applicable. Name who opens and who runs the meat case if those people are the asset.

Houston teasers that name Bellaire, Sharpstown, or Gulfton should still stay blind enough that they do not identify the only Asian or Hispanic independent on that stretch. DFW teasers should separate Pleasant Grove neighborhood weeks from Plano Asian specialty weeks. San Antonio teasers should admit H-E-B weather in the first paragraph after NDA. Austin teasers should show occupancy math from this lease, not a rumor. El Paso / RGV teasers should bring bilingual staffing plans and a full year of scan. Closing inventory counts at cost. Fiesta and other Hispanic banners need a current ownership check before anyone underwrites a hole or a competitor. Lottery and tobacco re-paper separately from TABC. A dry precinct next to a wet corridor can kill a beer-wine assumption that looked fine on a statewide slogan.

Border rhythm versus inland densification

After NDA, Texas fights often start with wet-dry status and whether package-store spirits were wrongly parked in grocery SDE. Show Comptroller 96-280 splits on the tape. Houston corridors punish conventional North Texas stocking; San Antonio boxes next to H-E-B need a trip story; Austin occupancy can break thin specialty weeks; El Paso / RGV needs a full year of scan for border rhythm. Tour H-E-B, Kroger, Albertsons banners, and Fiesta (verify ownership), then price this file. Labor at $7.25 is a floor. Inventory still counts at cost. Name who opens after a border-volume swing if that crew is the recast. TABC beer-wine and package-store class are dated steps, not the same paper.

Listing-site multiples are method context—not a Texas sold-comp and not an H-E-B template. Most independents argue inside national IQRs once TABC path, SNAP, and lease term are clean; corridor mix and occupancy move the check more than the state label. See how to value a grocery, the multiples report, and the valuation calculator. Timeline to sell should freeze TABC, health, FNS, Comptroller, and landlord. Why deals fall apart and surviving due diligence are the failure and seller companions. Sell an independent supermarket fits conventional boxes; keep transferring your liquor license beside wet-dry and package-store class. WIC, lottery, tobacco covers the other counters. Quiet outreach usually starts with operators who already know Bellaire, Gulfton, Pleasant Grove, or Valley corridors—not with a public listing that tells the meat crew you are leaving. Put the NDA in front of scan data.

Buyers on a Texas search should keep Houston, DFW, San Antonio, Austin, and the border separate. This site does not publish live Texas inventory. Confirm TABC and health on the same address before a closing Tuesday. A Bellaire week is not an El Paso week. A San Antonio H-E-B-adjacent week is not an Austin specialty week.

Bring three years of P&Ls, the lease, the last health inspection, and the TABC file. Grocery Store Business Broker will not invent density, rents, or SNAP-retailer counts. We recast the store you run and map wet-dry, package-store class, Comptroller 96-280, SNAP, and occupancy. Book a confidential intro. Email jason.taken@hedgestone.com for the hour. About Jason Taken is the desk. Lead with the corridor recast—not a statewide rumor.

An illustrative recast on Sell the Texas independent the wet-dry map decides

Use this napkin recast on Sell the Texas independent the wet-dry map decides when you book the call. It is labeled illustrative. BizBuySell's 2025 grocery sold-business earnings multiple averaged 3.38, with a 2021-2025 IQR of 1.60-3.15. State pages add the tax, wage, and alcohol-agency facts for this jurisdiction. They do not invent a local sold-comp set.

Input or output	Illustrative figure
Weekly sales (illustrative)	$168,000
Annual sales	$8,736,000
Recast SDE	$410,592 (4.7% of sales)
Inventory at cost	$624,000 (~14 turns)
Occupancy check	$305,760 / year (3.5% of sales)
Low going-concern	$1,506,773 at 2.15x SDE + inventory
High going-concern	$1,732,598 at 2.70x SDE + inventory
Sketch DSCR on a note	1.51

Rent at 3.5% of sales is the occupancy check. If the real lease is higher, the SDE in this table is too generous until you recast to market rent.

Bring three years of P&Ls, weekly sales, and the lease abstract to the intro call. Jason will tell you whether this band is even in the conversation.