How to buy a ready shop: offers from owners
A ready shop: what the price includes
When you buy a running shop, the price is made up of several parts: goods on the shelves, equipment, the lease rights, the customer base and the location itself. Sometimes an owner offers the “business at the price of the stock”, and then everything above that is payment for profit and location.
So the best start is to say clearly what you are looking for. On BlaBlaPrice shop owners write their terms to you, instead of you hunting for them in listings.
What to put in your request
- type of shop — grocery, clothing, cosmetics, pharmacy, building materials;
- city and area — for example, a residential area of Pune;
- sales floor area in sq ft;
- premises — owned or rented, the rent and the lease term;
- profit — monthly turnover and net result;
- what is included — stock, equipment, licences, staff;
- age of the business — how many years it has been running;
- budget — for example, up to ₹25 lakh.
Example: “I am looking for a grocery shop in a residential area of Pune, 600 sq ft, a 5-year lease, profit from ₹1 lakh a month. It should come with stock and the licences it needs. Budget up to ₹25 lakh.”
Grocery, pharmacy or clothing: how the valuation differs
For a grocery shop, footfall, nearby competitors and licences matter; licences cannot always simply be transferred, so ask how it is done. In a pharmacy, the licence and qualified staff decide everything. In clothing and cosmetics, the price depends on stock, seasonality and how current the goods are, because outdated stock is not an asset.
In any case, ask for a stock list: what exactly is on the shelves, at what purchase price, and what share is dead stock.
What to check in the lease and papers
- The lease term, and whether the landlord agrees to a new tenant.
- The amount of rent and the terms for changing it.
- Whether there are unpaid utility bills or dues to suppliers.
- Whether the billing system, registrations and permits needed for your type of shop are in order.
Check the claimed profit against real data: sales reports, bank statements, purchase volumes. If an owner promises a lot but shows nothing, that is a warning sign.
How to compare offers
Owners reply in the chat: a description of the shop, the price, what is included and the handover terms. BlaBlaPrice compares the offers and shows the best one by substance first, with reviews of the seller next to it. Owners can see where their offer stands among the others, so they can make their terms more attractive, for example by including the stock in the price.
Compare on the same set of points: what is included, the lease term, the age of the business. A typical mistake is to pay for “potential” that is not in the numbers. An online option may also suit you: look at online shops, and for a start with a ready model, at franchises.
