Owners discover their businesses are not built to sell
With two months left on his lease, Ali Roozbehani owner of antiques dealer, Dining Room Showcase, in downtown Boston is still hoping to find a buyer for the business. After 35 years of selling fine antiques and furniture throughout greater Boston, rising rents in the Downtown Boston area have cornered Roozbehani between a last minute sale to a new owner and liquidating his business. If Roozbehani does not find a buyer in time his business will close.
The story of Dining Room Showcase is incerasingly common. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counts national business closures in its “Business Death Rate.” The ominous term brings to light a potential crisis for the country. The office of Bureau and Labor Statistics found that the number of business deaths has outpaced the number of business births each year since 2008. Prior to 2008, business births had been greater in number by about 100,000 per year.
Roozbehani, 65, hired Stoughton based Lee Business Brokers to help find a buyer. The broker soon had him in touch with a painter interested in buying the business. The deal fell through because the buyer “had no experience refinishing” explained Roozbehani. In addition to selling antique furniture, Dining Room Showcase also makes money through repairing, refinishing, appraising, and reupholstering. A new owner would need to learn these jobs and also be passionate about antiques.
Roozbehani takes pride in selling unique treasures, many of them over a century old. The appraised value on his merchandise can be as high as $10,000 for the silk hand woven Persian Rug that is signed by its creator. When the business was listed for sale at Lee Brokers website on January 16, the asking price was $400,000. The price however may be negotiable. Large displays in the store windows inform that everything is on sale 50 to 80 percent off “Going out of Business.”