Buying or opening a supermarket or convenience store in Spain: costs, payback and licences

An existing grocery shop or neighbourhood supermarket in Spain sells by traspaso for a median €30,000: half of 63 listings in 2026 ask €19,000–60,000, and supermarkets and minimarkets around €50,000.

Opening a 150 m² supermarket from scratch costs about €150,000. The profit of such a shop rests on the owner working in it.

Below: what a convenience store or supermarket costs as a traspaso and with the premises, what the deal includes, what opening from scratch and a chain franchise cost, the rules on opening hours, alcohol and tobacco, what the shop earns with staff paid under the collective agreement, how it is taxed and what to check before buying.

The page includes a payback calculator with a hypothetical supermarket.

If you are choosing between a shop and a food-service business, compare with the figures in Buying a café or bar in Spain.

What an existing supermarket or convenience store costs

We reviewed 63 traspaso listings for grocery shops, minimarkets and supermarkets (Wallapop and thinkSPAIN, October 2026).

The median is €30,000, the average about €48,000, and half of the businesses ask €19,000–60,000.

Supermarkets and minimarkets cost more, with a median of €50,000, against €25,000 for small grocery shops. These are asking prices; deals close lower.

The typical shop in the sample has about 100 m² at a rent of about €8 per m² a month.

The traspaso equals a median 44 months’ rent — well below a restaurant, but a shop also earns less. Shops of 150 m² and more have a median price of €60,000.

Examples from the sample: a 390 m² supermarket in Barberà del Vallès near Barcelona with turnover of about €125,000 a month — €235,000 at a rent of €3,200 plus VAT; a 300 m² supermarket in Valencia’s Algirós district — €75,000 at €1,200 rent; a 100 m² supermarket in central Fuengirola — €114,950 at €2,000 plus VAT; a 150 m² supermarket in a village near Lleida turning over about €20,000 a month — €60,000 at €200 rent; a 44 m² shop in Valdemoro near Madrid — €4,000 plus the value of the stock.

Buying the shop with the premises

When the shop is sold with the premises, prices are of a different order: a corner supermarket in Peguera, Mallorca, with a small flat beneath it — €365,000; 342 m² fitted out as a supermarket in Vélez-Rubio (Almería) — €170,000.

Such a purchase is a business and commercial property at once: if you would rather not work behind the till, the premises can be let.

There is also a pure investment option: premises let to a chain.

In Fuengirola, a 3,600 m² building where a Dia supermarket has traded for about 25 years is listed at €4.2 million, with rent of €239,672 a year and 7 more years of mandatory lease.

That is about 5.7% a year before tax and costs, and the buyer acquires rental income, not a shop.

What a supermarket traspaso actually sells

Legally, a traspaso is the assignment of the premises lease together with the equipment. The seller’s company and the premises are not included. Three things matter for a grocery shop:

• Refrigeration and equipment. Cold rooms, display fridges, freezers, shelving, the till. This is most of the price, and refrigeration is what breaks down most often and costs most in electricity.
• Stock is extra. Remaining stock is usually not in the traspaso price: it is bought at cost or by inventory on handover day. Listings from Fuengirola and Valdemoro say so explicitly, and in one listing from Güéjar Sierra about €27,000 of the €44,000 is stock.
• Suppliers and the brand. A chain store (Dia, Carrefour Express, Udaco, Charter) runs under a franchise agreement with a specific owner, so the chain has to approve the new franchisee. An independent shop passes on only its own supplier arrangements, and purchase prices for the new owner may be worse.

What it costs to open a supermarket from scratch, and chain franchises

On its franchise website Dia quotes about €1,000 per m² for works and equipment when the franchisee brings their own premises; the entry fee is €300, the royalty 2% of sales, running charges 0.5% of sales, and guarantees cover the full value of the initial stock plus a contractual bank guarantee.

A franchisee taking over an operating Dia store needs no investment in premises: the guarantee covers half the stock and running charges are 3% of sales.

Dia finances the initial stock for up to 60 months interest-free, and the agreement runs for one year with automatic renewal.

For a 150 m² shop that means about €150,000 for works and equipment alone — three times the median supermarket traspaso.

• Charter (Consum). According to Consum, Charter franchisees pay no entry fee and no royalties, only for the goods; the chain had 504 stores in 2025. These are stores of several hundred square metres, not corner shops.
• Spar and Covirán. Spar promises franchisees a “low investment”; Covirán is a cooperative of independent retailers. Neither publishes its fees: terms are requested directly.
• Independent shop. No royalty, but no chain purchase prices either; you choose your own suppliers, from cash & carry wholesalers to local producers.

Opening from scratch requires a reserve: a shop takes several months to build regular customers, while rent, refrigeration power and wages start on day one. How to size that reserve is covered in Cash gap.

Which permits a grocery shop needs

A grocery shop of up to 750 m² needs no opening licence: under the retail liberalisation act (Ley 12/2012) a declaration replaces it, and a change of owner is a notice to the town hall (arts. 2.1 and 3); food retail, including supermarkets (IAE headings 647.1–647.4), is listed in the act’s annex.

This is where a shop differs from a restaurant or bar, to which the general act does not apply.

If the premises need structural works with a project, the works need their own permit.

• Food register. A food retail shop is not entered in the national food business register, but must register with its regional authority by a notice or declaration that does not in itself authorise anything (art. 2.2 RD 191/2011).
• Opening hours. Shops with a sales floor under 300 m² set their own opening days and hours anywhere in Spain unless they belong to a large group; the same freedom applies to tiendas de conveniencia — up to 500 m² and open at least 18 hours a day (art. 5 Ley 1/2004). For other shops, a region cannot cap weekday hours below 90 a week and must allow at least 16 trading Sundays and holidays a year, reducible to no fewer than 10 (arts. 3 and 4). In the Madrid region each shop chooses its own holiday trading days (Ley 2/2012, art. 6).
• Alcohol at night. Here regions and town halls set the rules. In the Madrid region a shop not licensed for on-site drinking may not sell alcohol during the night hours set by the town hall, or from 22:00 to 08:00 if it has set none (art. 30.4 Ley 5/2002); tiendas de conveniencia are exempt, but a town hall may lift the exemption in its zones. In the Valencian Community alcohol may not be sold from 22:00 to 07:00 in any establishment except for drinking on the premises, and the ban covers home delivery (art. 69.5 Ley 10/2014). For a “24-hour” shop that is a large part of night-time takings.
• Tobacco. Cigarettes are sold at retail only by estancos and by vending machines in authorised venues (art. 3.1 Ley 28/2005); a tobacco machine may stand in a press kiosk, a bar or restaurant, or a tienda de conveniencia at a petrol station or certified by the trade authority (art. 4.b). An ordinary supermarket does not sell tobacco. A shop with an estanco is a separate state concession: in the sample, an “estanco and supermarket” in the province of Granada asks €63,000.

What a convenience store earns

Food retail runs on thin margins.

According to the chains’ association ASEDAS, neighbourhood supermarkets earned about 2.4% of sales in 2023; there are no official gross-margin statistics, and the benchmark is about a quarter of sales: fresh produce earns less, drinks and impulse items more.

A corner shop therefore lives on volume and on how many hours the owner spends behind the till.

Under the collective agreement for supermarkets and grocery shops in the province of Alicante, in 2026 a group II employee earns €17,148.28 a year gross and group VI €17,593.23; the working year is 1,800 hours, and Sunday and holiday work is voluntary and paid 25% more.

The agreement does not name “cashier” or “shop assistant” — groups are described by tasks — so confirm the group with your gestor.

Employer social security contributions for retail in 2026 add about 32.3%: one and a half group II positions cost the shop about €34,000 a year, roughly €2,850 a month.

Supermarket payback calculator

The calculator holds a hypothetical 150 m² neighbourhood supermarket: €50,000 traspaso (the median for supermarkets in the sample) plus €20,000 to refresh the displays and buy the opening stock.

Revenue is €30,000 a month excluding VAT (€360,000 a year), goods 73% of revenue, staff €2,850 a month (one and a half positions; the owner works full time in the shop unpaid), rent €1,100 a month, and other costs (refrigeration power, insurance, gestor, till, refrigeration servicing, card fees) €1,800 a month.

Pre-tax profit is €28,200 a year, about €22,800 after tax, and the €70,000 invested pays back in about 3.1 years.

Two caveats. First, €22,800 a year is in effect the wage of the owner behind the till.

If you hire a group VI employee instead, after-tax profit falls to about €4,000 and payback stretches to 17–18 years.

Second, a shop is less sensitive to revenue than a restaurant: a 10% drop cuts pre-tax profit to €18,480, a 15% drop to €13,620. Break-even is about €21,300 of revenue a month.

How to read a payback period and what to compare it with is covered in Payback period.

Take revenue from bank statements, till reports and supplier invoices, not from the seller’s word.

A sole-trader seller files no VAT returns (see below), so revenue cannot be cross-checked against modelo 303: that leaves the till, the bank and purchases.

How a seller justifies the price is explained in How to value a business for sale.

Taxes: VAT, recargo de equivalencia and modules

• VAT. Bread, bread flour, milk, cheese, eggs, fruit, vegetables, pulses, tubers and cereals in their natural state, and olive oil are sold at 4% (art. 91.Dos.1.1º Ley 37/1992); other food and water at 10% (art. 91.Uno.1); alcohol and drinks with added sugar or sweeteners are excluded from the reduced rate and taxed at 21%, like household products.
• Recargo de equivalencia. When an individual runs the shop, the supplier collects VAT plus a surcharge of 5.2%, 1.4% or 0.5% on the 21%, 10% and 4% rates; the shopkeeper files no VAT returns and recovers no input VAT (arts. 148, 154 and 161 Ley 37/1992). The regime does not apply to an SL. For a buyer this means there are no seller VAT figures to check revenue against.
• Modules. In 2026 the flat-rate module system is open to grocery shops with counter service (heading 647.1, up to 5 workers) and self-service shops with a sales floor under 400 m² (647.2 and 647.3, up to 4 workers). For self-service the annual base is €10,827.31 per working owner, €1,788.80 per employee, €23.31 per m² and €32.75 per 100 kWh of electricity. Example: the owner, one and a half employees, 150 m² and 40,000 kWh — about €30,100 of base before depreciation and reduction coefficients. That exceeds our hypothetical shop’s profit: refrigeration makes modules expensive.
• Module ceiling. Modules are available up to €250,000 of prior-year revenue — that is the tax agency’s position, even though Congress did not ratify the decrees extending these limits. Our example shop, with €360,000 of revenue, no longer qualifies.
• SL. A shop held in an SL pays corporate tax: in 2026, with turnover under €1 million, 19% on the first €50,000 of profit and 21% above. How to take the profit out is covered in Salary or dividends from a Spanish SL.

What to check before buying a supermarket

1. The lease. A business tenant may assign the lease without the landlord’s consent, but the landlord may raise the rent by 20%, and must be notified within one month (art. 32 LAU). The lease may prohibit assignment or change these terms (art. 4.3 LAU). The remaining lease term is the main asset in a traspaso.
2. Till and purchases. Monthly revenue for 2–3 years from till reports and bank statements, purchases from supplier invoices. Purchases against sales show the real margin: if the seller claims 35% and the invoices show 20%, believe the invoices.
3. Refrigeration and power bills. Age of the cold rooms and displays, refrigerant, service contract. A year of electricity bills shows what refrigeration costs — and matters if you are considering modules.
4. Suppliers and franchise. Which agreements pass to you, at what prices the shop buys, whether the chain will approve a new franchisee and on what terms, and how the stock will be valued on handover day.
5. Debts and staff. The buyer of a going concern is liable for the seller’s tax debts (art. 42.1.c LGT) unless it obtains, before the deal, a tax-agency debt certificate, issued within 3 months (art. 175.2 LGT); for social-security debts (art. 168.2 LGSS); employees transfer with all their rights, and seller and buyer are jointly liable for wage debts for 3 years (art. 44 ET). Ask for the staff list with contracts and rotas.
6. Licence and restrictions. Which activity was declared, whether the sales floor matches the declaration, and whether your zone has municipal limits on night-time alcohol sales.
7. VAT on the deal. The sale of a whole business able to operate on its own is outside VAT (art. 7.1 Ley 37/1992); a simple assignment of rights and assets usually carries 21% VAT — structure the deal with a tax lawyer.

How an existing business is checked before the deposit is described on the traspaso audit page; if you are buying the company that owns the shop, you need full due diligence.

If you are moving to Spain for this business

A non-resident can buy a shop, but a non-EU citizen can live in Spain and run it personally only with a residence permit — usually the self-employment permit, granted first for one year.

The golden visa has been abolished, and the startup visa does not fit an ordinary business of this kind.

Relotus explains how the self-employment permit works and how it differs from employment in “Cuenta propia in Spain“.

The sensible order: first confirm the permit works for you, then pay a deposit.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to buy a supermarket or convenience store in Spain?

In a sample of 63 listings from 2026, a grocery shop traspaso has a median asking price of €30,000, with half between €19,000 and €60,000. Supermarkets and minimarkets ask about €50,000; the most expensive supermarkets in the sample ask €235,000–262,500. Stock is usually bought separately. These are asking prices.

How much does it cost to open a minimarket from scratch?

For a franchisee’s own premises Dia quotes about €1,000 per m² for works and equipment: a 150 m² shop is about €150,000, plus opening stock and a reserve for the first months. An existing shop bought by traspaso usually costs several times less.

Can a convenience store in Spain open 24 hours?

A shop with a sales floor under 300 m² that does not belong to a large group sets its own days and hours. At night, however, alcohol sales are restricted: by default from 22:00 to 08:00 in the Madrid region and from 22:00 to 07:00 in the Valencian Community.

Can a grocery shop sell alcohol and cigarettes?

Alcohol, yes, subject to regional and municipal night-time bans. Cigarettes, no: only estancos and vending machines sell them, and machines are allowed only in certain venues, including certified tiendas de conveniencia.

How much does a convenience store earn in Spain?

In the hypothetical example with €360,000 of annual revenue, the shop makes about €22,800 after tax if the owner works in it full time. Neighbourhood supermarket chains earn about 2.4% of sales.

Is a Dia, Spar or Covirán franchise worth it?

A franchise brings the chain’s purchase prices and deliveries but takes part of revenue: Dia charges a 2% royalty and 0.5–3% running charges, plus stock guarantees. Spar and Covirán do not publish terms. Compare the shop’s profit after all chain payments, not the fees.

Can a grocery shop be taxed under modules?

Yes, if the owner is an individual, the sales floor is under 400 m², there are no more than 4 workers (5 for a counter-service shop) and prior-year revenue is under €250,000. Modules also count electricity, so for a shop with refrigeration they can exceed actual profit.

Key points about buying a supermarket in Spain

• A grocery shop traspaso has a median asking price of €30,000, a supermarket or minimarket about €50,000; stock is bought separately.
• Opening a 150 m² supermarket from scratch costs about €150,000, three times the median traspaso.
• A shop up to 750 m² needs no licence and one under 300 m² sets its own hours, but night-time alcohol sales are restricted and tobacco goes through estancos only.
• Retail margins are thin: profit in the example is about €22,800 a year, in effect the wage of the working owner.
• What matters most in the deal: the remaining lease term, the real margin on supplier invoices and the state of the refrigeration.

Sources

• Ley 12/2012 — BOE; RD 191/2011, art. 2.2 — BOE; Ley 1/2004 on shop opening hours — BOE.
• Madrid: Ley 2/2012 — BOE, Ley 5/2002 — BOE; Valencian Community: Ley 10/2014 on health — BOE; Ley 28/2005 (tobacco) — BOE.
• LAU, arts. 4 and 32 — BOE; LGT, arts. 42 and 175 — BOE; Workers’ Statute, art. 44 — BOE; Ley 37/1992 (VAT) — BOE.
• Orden HAC/1425/2025 (2026 modules) — BOE; Orden PJC/297/2026 (contributions) — BOE; 2026 occupational-risk rates by CNAE — Fraternidad.
• Collective agreement for supermarkets and grocery shops, province of Alicante — BOPA no. 12, 20.01.2026.
• Dia franchise terms — franquicia.dia.es, franchisee FAQ; Charter — lexpress-franchise; ASEDAS — Agronews.
• Traspaso and sale listings for shops — Wallapop, thinkSPAIN, October 2026.