The young Canadians buying ‘boring’ businesses from retiring baby boomers

When Maureen Ngo left the University of British Columbia in her fourth year, it wasn’t to build a tech startup or launch a lifestyle brand. She dropped out to buy a laundromat.

The 25-year-old is well aware that it’s not a very sexy business. In fact, she bought it because it’s boring.

It’s not as if running a wash-and-dry operation was always her dream, but after being inspired by an online influencer who promotes “boring” businesses as a lower-effort path to financial freedom, she was all in.

A year and a half later, she’s made back her investment, manages a small-but-growing team, and plans to buy more businesses in the future. There is just one thing she would’ve done differently.

“I would have bought the laundromat way faster,” she said.

Ms. Ngo is part of a cohort of young Canadians buying “boring” businesses as a growing number of older Canadians look to sell as they retire: think laundromats, car washes, and vending machine companies. They might not seem exciting, but that’s the point.

Instead of starting something new (and taking on the risks that come with that), budding entrepreneurs are looking to buy businesses already well established in communities, with steady customers, proven revenue, and low overheads that make them more resilient to recessions.

For some of these buyers, owning a boring business is a pathway to escape the monotony of a 9-to-5 job. For others, it’s not meant to replace the income they make at their day job, but is instead, an investment, similar to a rental property.

These buyers are often called “searchers,” and most are in their 20s to 40s. For them, buying a business – instead of starting from scratch – is a less risky way to secure their financial futures.

“There is opportunity in chaos,” said Alison Anderson, CEO and founder of SuccessionMatching, an online platform that matches buyers and sellers. She has seen a rise in buyers for smaller, stable businesses in early 2025 amid trade tensions and market uncertainty.

And the opportunities are growing. A “silver tsunami” of retiring business owners is sweeping the country: According to a 2023 report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, 76 per cent of business owners plan to exit their companies within the next decade.

That translates to more than $2-trillion in business assets expected to change hands – many from mom-and-pop operations who are looking for a buyer who will carry on what they’ve built.

While it helps if the buyer has a business background, it’s not required. Online influencers, such as YouTuber Codie Sanchez, who inspired Ms. Ngo, have helped push the idea of buying a small business into the mainstream.

Ms. Ngo, who also runs a swim school, dropped out of university because she knew she didn’t want a traditional career working for someone else. She spent about eight months researching the laundry industry, listened to a podcast about laundromats (“Yes, there is a podcast fully dedicated to laundromats,” she said), and then hand-delivered more than 20 letters to laundromat owners across Vancouver expressing her interest in buying their business.

One eventually responded — a man planning to retire, who owned a small laundromat in East Vancouver. The price was under $100,000, and Ms. Ngo used her savings to buy it.

Other entrepreneurs are using a mix of their own capital and loans to finance their acquisitions and are typically on the hook if the business fails. While it’s still a risk, it can put less on the line than starting up a business from scratch.

One common approach of successful searchers is to dive headfirst into researching the ins-and-outs of these niche businesses.

Jeff Martinuk, 35, and his wife, Michelle, 37, made sure to do their due diligence before receiving the keys to Grenfell Car Wash, a self-service operation in the small town of Grenfell, about an hour and a half away from Regina.

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The previous owner, 54-year-old Michael Zorn, approached Mr. Martinuk last September while he was washing his truck at the car wash and “jokingly” suggested Mr. Martinuk take it over because he was getting tired of it.

“I was looking for a younger person, a local person,” Mr. Zorn said, who ran the business for more than two decades. “I have known Jeff for quite some time, he’s been around town, and I do think very highly of his integrity.”

The couple was hesitant at first, but after thoroughly going through the financials of the business and discovering the previous owner had kept up impeccable bookkeeping – which made the business easier to understand – the Martinuks decided it would be a good long-term investment.

The price tag was in the multiple six figures, and the couple used personal savings to pay for about a third of it. The rest was paid through a mortgage on the property and multiple loans. They plan to pay off the mortgage in 15 years and the loans in seven-and-a-half years, or sooner.

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“We expect that we’re breaking even right from the get-go,” Mr. Martinuk said. “Even with servicing the debt.”

While Mr. Martinuk plans to keep his day job as a superintendent of public works, they plan to use the profit to pay off their debt.

“It’s been established in the community for so long,” Ms. Martinuk said. “You can bank on there still being customers coming.”

But it’s hard work. The Martinuks have had to quickly learn how to troubleshoot problems and fix anything that breaks. For example, in the first week of running the car wash, the motor for opening the large wash bay door failed, and it took more than a week to fix.

“It is far more labour-intensive than one would think,” Mr. Martinuk said. “It requires constant attention.”

Unlike larger merger-and-acquisition deals that involve many stakeholders, along with lawyers and brokers, most searchers bear the brunt of arranging the transaction on their own. That often involves door-knocking, doing extensive online research into the industry, and establishing relationships with brokers.

“It’s definitely more like the Wild West,” said Brett Miller, a Toronto-based partner at Richter Family Office who specializes in succession planning and transaction advisory.

Buyers need to be wary of businesses whose success hinges on the previous owner, and the owner’s relationships, Mr. Miller said. Other red flags are declining financial results and significant industry changes, he said.

But he said a big upside of these “passive” businesses is that they don’t require much effort to run.

“This isn’t the sexy stuff but it’s incredibly cash-flow positive,” Mr. Miller said. “The knock on buying exciting businesses is oftentimes they’re not cash-flow positive and they still require a lot of work to get them to reach their potential.”

Searchers are also facing competition from “search funds” — groups backed by investors that look to buy small businesses. These groups are typically run by recent business school graduates who partner with investors, or private equity firms.

Garrett Clyne, 33, left a career in investment banking and private equity in 2020 to launch his own investment firm, Cassiar Partners. That December, he made his first acquisition: a powder coating business, which applies paint to large sheets of metal in powdered form for a variety of finished products.

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“When you’re building a company from scratch, you have to figure out a lot of things,” Mr. Clyne, who is based in Toronto, said. “When you’re buying an existing company, the company generally has figured out a lot of what it needs to be able to operate.”

He purchased the business from a retiring owner whose family had run it for more than 20 years, and he kept the existing staff in place.

“We knew we were buying a business that worked well enough without any contributions from us, and frankly, we didn‘t have much to add when we started,” Mr. Clyne said. “The company, in effect, ran itself, and over time we could figure out the ways in which we could start adding value.”

Mr. Clyne plans to relocate the company’s manufacturing operations from Mississauga to an upgraded site in Vaughan, Ont., later this summer. Since his first acquisition, he has purchased two additional companies: one in drilling and blasting, and another in electrical contracting.

While Mr. Clyne’s investment firm helps him land these deals, smaller buyers have an advantage when looking to snap up retirees’ businesses: relationships. Many sellers care about who they sell to, and that bond can last long after the sale.

Although the car wash is now the Martinuks’ responsibility, the previous owner, Mr. Zorn has helped with the transition by having Mr. Martinuk help run the business before he took it over. Mr. Zorn also assisted with sourcing some of the niche components required for running a car wash.

“I was clear with him right from the beginning, I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to help you,” Mr. Zorn said. “I want to see him do well, because I took a fair bit of pride in how I ran the business. I think highly of them, and I want them to be blessed by the business too.”