Advice on buying car washes, laundromats in Canada

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December 20, 2024

by a professional from University of Toronto in Toronto, ON, Canada

All,

Does anyone here have experience buying laundromats or car washes in Canada? Trying to understand the landscape. Would be great to know what are peoples thoughts on valuations at the moment for such businesses.

Also, do people have ideas as to where I could find such businesses to buy?

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Reply by a professional
from University of Southern California in North Palm Beach, FL, USA
Don't let wishful thinking overrule common sense when it comes to the cash being skimmed and not reported as income to taxing authorities. Also find out who owns those kinds of businesses in your area. I did a job for a client in a city where a lot of underworld characters controlled the niche, and the only operations that were available to the general public were the ones that didn't have a future.
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Reply by a searcher
from Western University in Toronto, ON, Canada
Hi Shail, I looked at this space a long time ago. MLS is a great place to find these when they're brokered and Kijiji for non-brokered. There's a way to make it work in Canada but it was very difficult with our rate of gentrification and different economics than our US counterparts. All in all, it wasn't a good buy in my opinion - margins were good, expansion was bad, and $ earnings were too small
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