High-Volume Exxon Gas Station with Strip Center, Arlington TX

$1.6M

Revenue

$960K

SDE

5.0x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is an Exxon-branded gas station and convenience store in Arlington, Texas, operating since 2005 in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The deal bundles the fuel and c-store operation together with an attached strip center that throws off additional rental income, which is a meaningful part of what the buyer is paying for. At an asking price of $4.8m against $3.5m of owned real estate, roughly three quarters of the sticker is the dirt and the buildings, not the operating business.

The station reports $1.6m in gross revenue and $960k in EBITDA, though that EBITDA figure almost certainly blends fuel margin, inside sales, and the rental stream. The listing describes the business as absentee-owned with a five-person full-time team, which tells you the operation runs on process rather than founder heroics. Facilities include updated POS, cameras, ATM, and ice machines, and $200k of inventory sits on top of the asking price.

What makes this notable is the real estate anchor. Fuel volume in a dense, growing DFW submarket plus a rent roll from the strip center gives a buyer two independent cash flow lines and a hard asset floor. The catch is that the branded fuel and c-store model carries thin gross margins and heavy pass-through revenue, so the quality of that $960k number needs to be dissected before anyone gets excited about a 5x headline multiple.

Why we like it

The deal is anchored by $3.5m of owned real estate inside a $4.8m ask, so nearly 73 percent of the price is a hard asset with a rent roll behind it. That is real downside protection: even if fuel margins compress, you own dirt in a dense, appreciating DFW submarket rather than a lease you can lose.
Two independent cash flow lines reduce single-point risk. Fuel and inside c-store sales are one engine, and the strip center rent is a second engine that keeps paying regardless of how gallons pump, which smooths the volatility that kills pure fuel-margin deals.
Gas, convenience staples, and commercial rent are all recession-resistant. People still buy fuel and cigarettes and lottery tickets in a downturn, and tenants still owe rent, so the demand base here does not evaporate when the economy softens.
The business is already absentee-run with a five-person team, meaning the systems, staffing, and supplier relationships exist without the owner behind the counter. For a buyer with capital, that is a genuine operator advantage: you inherit a running machine, not a job.

How to improve it

Separate the fuel, c-store, and rental P&Ls in the first 90 days to know exactly where the $960k comes from. Once you see true fuel margin per gallon versus inside merchandise margin versus net rent, you can allocate management attention and capital to the highest-return line instead of guessing.
Audit the strip center rent roll and re-lease any below-market or month-to-month tenants. Small rent bumps and longer terms compound directly into enterprise value at a real estate cap rate, which is a cleaner return than squeezing another penny out of fuel.
Attack inside sales, which is where c-store money is actually made. Optimize the cooler set, add high-margin categories like prepared food, fountain, and hot coffee, and renegotiate distributor terms to lift the merchandise margin that fuel volume already drives foot traffic toward.
Add or upgrade a food service or QSR concept in available strip-center space or the store footprint. Branded food inside a high-traffic gas stop drives per-visit ticket and repeat trips, and it is the single biggest lever in modern convenience economics.
Enroll in the Exxon loyalty and payment programs fully and layer in a house loyalty app to capture repeat customers. Turning drive-by fuel buyers into tracked, returning customers increases inside conversion and gives you data to merchandise against.
Review the fuel supply contract and card-processing fees line by line. Branded jobber margins and interchange are large numbers on $1.6m of pass-through revenue, and even a fraction of a cent improvement on fuel or a better processing rate flows straight to EBITDA.

Diligence notes

Deconstruct the $960k EBITDA claim immediately, because with $1.6m in gross revenue reported the number looks inflated unless fuel gallons are recorded net or the rental income is stacked on top. Confirm whether that figure includes rent, whether it is pre-owner-comp, and whether it reconciles to filed tax returns and merchant statements.
Verify the real estate valuation independently with an appraisal and check the Tarrant County property tax basis. Since $3.5m of the price is dirt and buildings, an overstated real estate value directly overstates the whole deal and changes your financing structure.
Pull the full strip center rent roll, lease terms, tenant estoppels, and payment history. Vacancy, weak tenants, or short remaining terms would gut the rental cash flow that justifies a chunk of the price, so confirm occupancy and collections are real and durable.
Confirm the Exxon franchise agreement, its remaining term, transfer conditions, and any required capital improvements or image upgrades. Branded fuel deals often carry mandated reimaging costs on transfer that can run into six figures and are easy to miss.
Order environmental due diligence on the underground storage tanks, including a Phase I and tank integrity testing. UST contamination liability is the classic gas station killer and can cost more than the operating business is worth, so this is non-negotiable.
Test the absentee-run claim by reviewing the management structure, employee tenure, and how supplier and lottery relationships are held. Confirm the business genuinely runs without the owner and that key vendor terms transfer, since a departing owner-relationship is a hidden dependency.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →