The main things I'd be looking at are:
- The gross and net profits over the last few years (GPM for a part store should be ~30% or you'll go broke)
Comercial shops they are %30 mark up Cash Customers are %40
- Average turnover and how much dead or low turning inventory they have
Very good question i will have to ask them that one
- How much space you would be getting (whether there's too much or too little space, there's usually too little)
There is never enough spaces
- How does the supplier upchain take care of their stores (Give you room to make good profits vs list while still being competitive, good return policies for obsolete/dead stock, having a good warehouse network to get parts to you quickly etc)
I Know carquest does take care of them and does have a good return policy
- How extensive is your trade customer base (your bread and butter, the guys who will call on you daily)
Napa has more of the commerical shops in the area which is about 5 in this small town
There's more but this is just off the top of my head. It's no small undertaking, but it could (and probably should) easily be more profitable then your 3 bay shop. We are both doing about the same numbers right now. Parts store did 500K last year in sales and i fell 10K short of that mark so close in sales but expenses add up quicker in the shop so i would say he makes 15 to 20k more a year
Thank You for your info and replaying to my post I am waiting on Napa to see what there numbers are. And i also know neither on of the stores push stuff as hard as they should.