Selling or Buying a Bookstore
How much is a bookstore worth? What’s involved in putting a bookstore up for sale? How do you buy a bookstore?
- History of sales volume and profitability
- Expenses as they relate to industry averages
- Health of your inventory and credit status with vendors
- Current value of assets like your fixtures, furnishings, and computerized management system
- Strength of operations like buying, inventory management, and marketing
- Customer mailing lists and loyalty programs
- Institutional clients and contracts
- Reputation with publishers and ability to attract authors for events
- Strength of your brand; the range of marketing activities that support growth in sales and profits
- Tenure of your staff, pay levels, and how tasks are assigned
- Terms of your lease and whether its assumable
- Reputation in your community
There are several steps in selling a bookstore and we are here to help you with each:
Planning & Preparation
- Conduct a business valuation by an objective, qualified third party to determine a fair price
- Develop your message to staff, customers, and the media to announce the bookstore is up for sale
- Prepare documents, including a Non-Disclosure Agreement, questionnaire, marketing flyer (1-2 pages), and business overview (often 50+ pages with details about your financial performance, operations, owners compensation, opportunities)
Facilitating the Sale
- Handle inquiries (preferably not done on the sales floor)
- Qualify prospects
- Schedule meetings between owner and qualified buyers
- Answer questions and respond to information requests
- Prompt offers
- Help you identify terms and plan the transition