How to sell a small business?
My mom has been running a small business for 40+ years and her health is getting to the point where she need to retire. It's a single location, small staff, but it's reasonably successful. It has ups & downs based on economic cycles (she sells flooring), but also has years were she profits $200-$400k, which goes pretty far in a town with low costs of living.
She's reluctant to face the prospect of closing the store (it's part of her identity), but slowly coming around it. She figured she would just close the doors & that's it.
However, it seems like that would be leaving a lot of money on the table.
We've talked about selling the business, but it's really hard to figure out how to do so. A friend suggested talking to SCORE but that didn't go anywhere. Google searches for selling a company points me to people who do valuations & brokers, but they give off a strong used car salesmen vibe.
Anyone been through this or have advice?