Sell a Specialty Retail business

Owner-operator specialty retail businesses trade at 2x–3.5x SDE for typical $500K–$3M SDE ranges. At $3M+ EBITDA scale the same operators sell at 4x–7x EBITDA. Multiples in this category are ebitda-based and data-sourced from Pitchbook CPG Report Q4 2024 + Consumer Growth Report 2025. Where you land in the range is driven by growth trajectory, revenue mix, customer concentration, and management-team depth beyond the owner.

Active buyer archetypes in consumer products include CPG strategic, Consumer PE, Aggregator / brand roll-up. Which of these bids for your business depends on scale — sub-$1M SDE is typically individual or search-fund territory, $1-3M SDE opens up PE platforms and strategics, and $3M+ EBITDA gets full LMM buyer attention.

Specialty retailers with strong owned-brand product, high-repeat-visit customer bases, and integrated ecommerce channels trade at premium — the multi-channel + private-label mix is what strategic retail buyers pursue. Beyond the industry-specific factor, the universal drivers in consumer products are omnichannel revenue mix (amazon + dtc + retail); gross margin >45%; cac / ltv ratio evidence of unit-economic durability.

Specialty retail faces material rent-escalation and foot-traffic normalization; buyers scrutinize your four-wall economics and lease-portfolio flexibility. Buyers in this category also standardly scrutinize marketplace platform concentration (amazon-only businesses discounted) and return rates and quality issues. Addressing these in advance in a well-prepared CIM materially reduces retrade risk during diligence.

Typical transaction range for specialty retail is $1.0M–$30M in annual revenue. Below that, buyer pool narrows to individual and small-search-fund. Above that, PE platforms and strategics dominate. NAICS code 451120 — buyers screen by NAICS in most deal sources.

From the day you engage a broker to close, expect 6–12 months for a well-prepared business in consumer products. The prep work — financial cleanup, addbacks documentation, key-employee retention agreements, real estate lease sorting — is where 3-6 months of the timeline hides. Starting that early is what separates a full-multiple exit from a discounted one.