From BBQ joints to ice cream parlors, more small businesses changed hands in 2014 compared to any time in recent memory. It’s a trend many business brokers were expecting.
According to bizbuysell.com, which tracks small business transaction data across the United States, 2014 saw small business sales increase 6 percent. The numbers are important because they can be viewed as an indicator of economic recovery across Colorado and the U.S.
Business Brokers like Ben Mahrle, a managing broker at Mountain States Business Brokers Group in Fort Collins, witnessed the activity firsthand.
“It was our best year in the 20 years,” said Mahrle. “We have many good small businesses that are profitable and growing, with baby boomer owners that are thinking about retiring.”
Mahrle said retirement of baby boomers was the most common reason he saw for business sales in 2014. And with the economy becoming stronger, the median price and number of transactions increased.
The trend could also be seen nationwide, according to Bob House, general manager at bizbuysell.com. House said he also expects 2015 to be an even more positive year.
“I think we’ll see continued strong activity. Most brokers we’ve asked say they expect to sell more businesses in 2015 than 2014 and to fetch higher prices,” said House.
In particular, service businesses, retail outlets and restaurants are in high demand across the United States.
In Colorado, Mahrle said he didn’t see buyers searching for one specific kind of business like car washes or laundromats.
“What we saw last year was a pretty wide variety of service business, restaurants, retail, manufacturing,” he said. “Construction even came back. For a long time there was very little interest in construction related businesses. We sold three or four of those last year.”