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Hello all,

I have to sell one of my businesses to make time for my second one, does anyone here know of any forums, chat rooms, or something similar that help people network and sell businesses in their home town? (other than craigslist)

Don't know of any forums, but I've been involved with selling businesses in the past. Since we're probably talking about a small privately held business, I think your best bet is to go with people you already know - friends, family, professional contacts, and see if any of them are interested in taking charge. It's also worthwhile to contact competitor's in the general area and see if any of them would be interested in expanding and taking over your location, or merging it into their business.

If that sounds like a lot of work - it could be worth your while to list your business with a local real estate brokerage or business broker.

Finally, maybe a liquidation would be more worth your while? If it doesn't look like you're going back to this business, and you don't have other concerns such as to maintain employment for the employees - maybe you could arrange sales of all your inventory and assets and equipment.

I might be able to give you some more specific recommendations if I know what kind of business you are selling.

I have one Lotto and Card store and one Card and gift shop, both are not doing well and I want to get rid of the lotto shop. I've been handing out business cards all over and people came in at first but have ceased coming in and even calling. My partner doesn't want to go through a business broker because they take a hefty commission so we placed it on craigslist with mixed success.

Yeah business brokers do take a chunk, they might be better at marketing your business to interested people and getting a higher value than you expect though. On the other hand, they sometimes bash your expected value so they can have an attractive price to sell quickly and get the commission quickly... So that's a pain in the neck and requires some research to suss out. As dumb as it sounds, craigslist is probably a pretty decent way to find semi-interested people in the local area. Eventually one of them will be serious enough.

Can you sublet the real estate the store is in? Check your lease contract. Maybe you don't want the added bother, but I think that could be extremely lucrative to wind the business down and sublet the RE to a new vendor, particularly if you're located in NYC.