Deal Alert: Undervalued Liquor Store With Turnaround Potential in California

📍 Location: California
💰 Asking Price: $119K + ~$40K inventory
💸 Historical Revenue: ~$500K/year pre-2023 | Current: $283K (due to seller’s passing)

🌟 Why This Business is Great:

✔ Decades of Operation, Clear Local Demand
This isn’t a new venture — it's a longstanding neighborhood store with licenses, loyal foot traffic, and a grocery/liquor blend that serves daily needs.

✔ Priced to Move
For under $120K, you're buying a fully permitted store with 4,500 sq. ft. of real estate (leased), existing operations, and a track record of $500K in revenue. That’s below replacement cost.

✔ Simple Fixes, Clear Value Add
The 2023 dip isn’t systemic — the seller passed away mid-year. This is a classic case of operational neglect, not market failure. Add lotto, check-cashing, optimize SKUs, and ride it back up.

✔ Room to Improve
One employee, no delivery apps, no subletting of oversized space, and a lease ending in 2026. Each of these is an opportunity — not a red flag.

🚧 Challenges to Consider

❌ Not Passive
This is not a turnkey deal. It needs an active operator (or manager), some grit, and a few strategic upgrades.

❌ Lease Limitations
Only 1–2 years left on the lease. Renegotiating early could unlock more favorable terms—or become a point of friction.

❌ Unclear Financials
No real breakdown of net profit. That said, based on standard industry margins, a 30% gross profit on $40–50K in sales could yield solid cash flow once stabilized.

🚀 Growth Levers I See

🔹 Delivery Apps & Digital Ordering
Adding UberEats/Doordash for wine/snacks can boost sales by 10–20% with minimal effort. Liquor stores that go digital see fast ROI.

🔹 Sublease or Reconfigure Space
4,500 sq. ft. is a lot. Partition off unused areas or share with a local service provider (e.g., phone repair, small café corner).

🔹 Niche Inventory
Upsell higher-margin products: craft wines, imported snacks, or even local small-batch spirits.

🔹 Community Positioning
Turn it from “just a store” into a local staple. Host tastings, local events, or partner with nearby vendors for co-marketing.

🔍 My Analysis:

This is a low-cost opportunity with solid bones, but it’s definitely a hands-on deal. The store did around $500K a year before the seller passed away, so the drop in 2023 isn’t a sign of a broken business — just one that needs attention. For under $120K, with licenses in place and existing operations, you’re getting a real shot at turning this into a cash-flowing asset. It’s not passive — you’ll need to roll up your sleeves, add some services, optimize the space, and push sales back up. But if you're looking for a simple business to improve and grow, this has potential.

🏃‍♂️Want to buy this business? If you want access to this deal and others like it, book a call with us. We'll show you how we can help you buy this business or others like it, show you how to analyze and help you finance this deal or others like it, and discuss our paid program where we can help you find, finance, and acquire a business or few of them in the next 6-12 months.

Join A Free Training To Apply To Become an Acquisitions.com Advisor: Learn how to broker the buying and selling of businesses, and earn monthly retainers, and 2-10% of each deal.

Together with Flippa

Built to Sell: The Blueprint for a Lucrative Exit

Thinking About Selling Your Business?
The smartest entrepreneurs don’t wait until it’s time to sell — they plan their exit early. And so can you.

Join Flippa CEO Blake Hutchison for a free, expert-led webinar that walks you through everything you need to know to prepare, position, and sell your business for a maximum profit.

In this session, Blake will take you step-by-step through the exit process, including:

1. Planning realistic timelines and expectations

2. Building your business with an exit in mind

3. Who’s buying — and what they’re really looking for

4. How to value your business

5. Navigating due diligence and closing smoothly

Finally, Blake will break down a real-world deal that successfully closed on Flippa.
Ready to find out what your business is worth today? Get a free valuation here >

Whether you're thinking about selling now or in a few years, your exit strategy starts here.

Recent Case Study

Dustin's first retainer + % advisory deal [link]

Trends of the week 

1. Mode Mobile is flipping the data industry on its head, splitting profits with their users by turning smartphones into an income-generating asset. Invest in Mode and earn your stake in this $1T industry.

Recent Youtube Video

How to Buy a Business With Little Time or Money [link]

Recent Acquisition Stories:
Datadog Enters Data Observability with Metaplane Buy

Datadog just acquired Metaplane, a rising data observability platform that helps teams catch data quality issues before they cause damage. With the explosion of AI and cloud data platforms like Snowflake and Databricks, this move positions Datadog deeper into the data layer of the modern tech stack.

My Take:
This isn’t just a tech synergy—it's a clear signal that infrastructure players are racing to own the data reliability narrative in the AI age. Datadog already dominates app monitoring; now it wants to be the go-to for data observability too. For buyers out there, this is a reminder: companies solving trust in data are becoming the plumbing of the AI economy. Watch this space.

Scale or Sell:
If you're a business owner looking to scale your company to 8 or 9 figures, we can help. Our 70+ pillars alongside our “Scale or Sell” system provides a clear roadmap to improve your operations and profitability and look to get personalized guidance, access our proprietary growth tools, and learn how to build a valuable, sellable enterprise reply back with details about your business and the type of help you look for.

Success Story

Check out what one of our members recently accomplished :

• Big milestone for Ariel 🎉
  After a long journey searching for his first business to buy, he’s now got 2–3 solid opportunities lined up—and just submitted his first LOI.

  The game is officially on.

Want me and my team to help you find, finance, and buy a profitable business in the next 6–12 months?

Apply to join the Acquisitions.com.

Here’s How We Can Help You:

• Join Our Community: Access free courses & meet fellow entrepreneurs. (link)

• Buy a Business: Get support with finding, analyzing & financing deals (link)

• Become an Acquisitions.com Advisor: Help others buy and sell businesses. (link)

• Scale your business: Build Internal foundations before external growth (link)

• Sell a Business: Connect with interested buyers. (link)

• Co-invest with Us: Partner on lucrative deals. (link)