Branded Gas Station & C-Store, Houston County Georgia

$1.5M

Revenue

$590K

SDE

3.9x

Multiple

Subscribe Free

Read the full deal writeup

Get Free Access

Already a member? Sign in

Full Editorial Writeup

This is a branded gas station and convenience store in Houston County, Georgia, serving the Macon and Warner Robins market. The operation runs a roughly 5,000-plus square foot building on one acre, split across a 2,000 SF C-store, a 1,500 SF restaurant space, and a 1,800 SF unit available for lease. It moves about 10,000 gallons of fuel and $60,000 of inside merchandise per month, and crucially the real estate is owned and included in the $2.3M asking price, so a buyer is acquiring both the operating business and the dirt.

The economics here lean more on the store than the pump, which is typical of well-run convenience retail. Inside sales carry higher margins than fuel, and this location layers in multiple ancillary income streams: COAM coin-operated amusement gaming, lottery, cigarettes, an air pump, an ATM, and various vendor rebates and commissions. The pumps are described as newer with four double-sided MPDs, and the property has been updated and upgraded, reducing near-term capex risk.

At $2.3M for $590K of cash flow, the headline multiple is 3.9x, but that figure includes real estate, which materially changes how a buyer should underwrite it. The additional lease-ready and remodel-ready square footage represents unmonetized upside. The seller cites downsizing as the reason for sale and this is explicitly positioned as a hands-on owner-operator opportunity, not an absentee play.

Why we like it

At $590K cash flow against $2.3M including real estate, you are buying the operating business at a reasonable multiple and getting an owned one-acre property and 5,000-plus SF building in the deal. Strip out the land value and the pure-operations multiple is lower than the 3.9x headline, which is the kind of downside protection that makes gas station deals financeable with an SBA 7(a).
Fuel is low margin and transactional, but the profit engine here is the higher-margin inside store plus a stack of annuity-like side income: COAM gaming, lottery, cigarettes, ATM, air pump, and vendor rebates. These ancillary streams are sticky, cash-generative, and far more defensible than the fuel spread that competitors fight over.
Gas and convenience are about as recession-resistant as retail gets. People buy fuel, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and snacks in every economic climate, and the Warner Robins market is anchored by Robins Air Force Base, which provides a stable local employment and traffic base.
The property has already been updated and upgraded with newer pumps and four double-sided MPDs, so a buyer inherits a modernized asset rather than a deferred-capex money pit. That cuts the single biggest surprise risk in station deals, which is EPA/tank/dispenser replacement costs showing up right after close.

How to improve it

Lease up the vacant 1,800 SF unit and activate the 1,500 SF restaurant space immediately. Even at modest market rents, a signed tenant converts dead square footage into high-margin passive income that drops almost entirely to the bottom line and lifts enterprise value at exit.
Audit and renegotiate fuel supply and jobber agreements within the first 90 days. Branded stations often leave margin on the table with legacy supply terms, and improving the fuel spread by even a few cents per gallon on 120,000 annual gallons compounds meaningfully.
Optimize the inside merchandise mix toward high-velocity, high-margin categories like foodservice, hot/cold beverages, and private-label items. At $60K monthly inside sales, a few points of gross margin improvement and better planogram discipline can add tens of thousands in annual profit.
Maximize the COAM gaming footprint within Georgia's legal machine limits and verify the revenue-share split is competitive. COAM is one of the highest-margin lines in Georgia convenience retail, and under-deployed machines or a weak vendor split is money left on the table.
Install or upgrade back-office and point-of-sale analytics to tighten inventory shrink, track category margins, and reduce cigarette and lottery reconciliation leakage. Shrink control in C-stores is a direct profit lever that most owner-operators manage by feel rather than data.
Add loyalty and prepaid fuel programs to drive repeat visits and smooth traffic. Converting one-time fill-ups into a returning base increases inside basket size, which is where the real margin lives.

Diligence notes

Separate the real estate value from the business value before accepting the 3.9x framing. Get an independent appraisal of the one-acre property and building, because the true operating multiple and your financing structure depend entirely on how much of the $2.3M is dirt versus cash flow.
Order a Phase I environmental assessment and underground storage tank inspection. Tank leaks, soil contamination, and dispenser compliance are the existential risks in any fuel retail acquisition, and remediation can run six figures that dwarf the deal economics.
Verify the $590K cash flow with three years of fuel reports, inside sales records, COAM statements, lottery commissions, and tax returns. Gas station SDE often blends owner add-backs and cash-heavy categories like lottery and gaming, so insist on documented, reconcilable numbers.
Confirm the fuel brand agreement terms, remaining duration, and any volume commitments or buyout penalties. A restrictive branded contract limits your supply flexibility and can carry costly obligations that transfer to a new owner.
Validate the status and income of the restaurant and lease spaces. Determine whether the 1,500 SF restaurant and 1,800 SF lease unit are currently generating income or are vacant, since the listing describes them as available, which suggests the upside is projected rather than realized.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →