Every ad tells a story

Any time I see an ad selling an entire woodshop filled with equipment, I wonder what the story is behind it.

There was an ad in our local paper a few days ago, offering the full contents of a longstanding cabinet shop – tools, inventory, everything. There’s no way tell from the ad how large the shop is, but from the asking price, I’m guessing it’s fairly decent-sized. The ad suggests that it would be a good turnkey opportunity, so it must be nicely equipped.

And it makes me wonder … why?

Sure, I could just call the number in the ad and ask, but I won’t. For one thing, why they’re selling really isn’t any of my business. And if the reason for selling is based on health or family issues, they don’t need some woodworking blogger bugging them at a sensitive time. No, I’ll leave calling that number to interested buyers only.

But that doesn’t stop me from speculating.

The ad states that the business has been operating for 27 years, so it must have been successful. And, assuming the owner worked for others for a while and honed skills before opening his (or her) own shop, he was probably 30 to 40 years old then. After nearly 30 years in a successful business, it’s logical that he decided that he’d had a pretty good run.

Not only is this the most likely scenario, it offers two “happy endings” if you will. The first is that after running a successful business for three decades, they’re simply ready to move on and enjoy something else before they’re too old to enjoy it. That’s what I’d do in a similar situation.

The other isn’t really an ending at all. In fact, if another woodworker likes the idea of doing a turnkey and keeps the shop going, or even if they just want to buy everything and use it elsewhere, either way it’s not the end of this shop’s story. It’s really the beginning of another.