A few months ago we signed an agreement for the sale of our newsXpress Forest Hill business. This came at the same time we had been temporarily relocated by the landlord due to construction impacting our level 2 location. The construction dragged on as did the negotiations for a new lease. The timing is such that we have to be out of our temporary location on Saturday February 12. The couple purchasing the business will not be ready to trade from the new location until early April as they can only get access at the end of this month and have a full shop-fit to undertake.
Given that we have been at Forest Hill for fifteen years, we wanted to give our customers fair notice of the changes. Yesterday, we started handing out a letter explaining the moves. I publish it here to show our approach to sharing the news with our customers, to demonstrate our transparency and to publish the facts to our gossip loving channel.
We have a busy two weeks at this store while also keeping the finger on the pulse of our three other newsagencies.
I’m curious, how is it that you were left short on the re-location. Did your current lease actually expire before the relocation/sale?
The sale was negotiated months ago. The temporary relocation came in the middle of this. The mismatch in the closure of the temporary relocation and opening a new store in the old location (which was demolished in the construction) came about because of delays in the negotiation of a new lease between the purchaser and the landlord.
Nice touch to tell the customers what is happening to the staff; becuase to them they were the face of the agency
Gee i feel sorry for these purchasers and im glad im not the Lai’s….first timers,in a shopping centre with increasing rents,decreasing magazine and paper sales across the industry and whatever goodwill that was paid for a certain profitability will absolutely dissipate over the next few months while business is shut…the industry is hard enough to make a dollar in without a fiery intro like this…doesnt seem quite right to me ,why would you pay your money and then have to shut…as i sais good luck to them but im glad its not me
Helen, you’re not well informed on a range of fronts here. Including the timing which has been under their control.
Mark,im just reflecting on my experience of buying and selling numerous newsagencies over the past 24 years,and remembering both pleasant and unpleasant transactions… and how you often rant on here about how some business agents actions in sales and handovers, where incoming owners dont appear to be fully conversant with and/or on top of just how difficult this industry can be,almost giving the impession that you think they(the agents) are purposely misleading incoming purchasers just to get their inflated sale price though,and how inflated sales prices according to you are the bane of our industry…weel if these unrealistically high business handover values conspire to stymie new incoming entrants to our industry ,i just found it ironic to say the least to hear of a changeover that you are participating in that seems to fly in the face of all you seem hold to be negative to our industry in terms of handovers….again all i can say is im glad its not me in this tranaction
Helen I am not sure of what your agenda. If I were going to even a small part of what you accuse me of I would not have blogged about the sale here. Seriously.
Once again, you are mistaken on all fronts in your comment. You have no knowledge of the sale price, what I have represented or the credentials and experience of the purchasers.
I am conducting this transaction in accordance with the principles which I espouse at this blog. I do not do business any other way.
Sorry to blog a comment that you dont seem to like Mark but no i have agendas and im not accusing anyone one of anything,as i said im just making an observation as to how hard the incoming purchasers first 12 months at least will be,i also find the irony between some of your blogs about supposed industry no-nos and the reality of actual tranaactins quite hypocritical sometimes IMHO…if you dont want comments about a particular topic dont blog about them and put them up fpr debate and comment
Helen you do have an agenda. You know nothing about this transaction. I have been clear that it has been offered and conducted according to the principles which I espouse here.
Maybe you would care to tell people who you are so that they can understand your agenda.
You seem to be the clever one so you tell me what my supposed agenda is Mark…as i said NO agendas and i make and or made no comment on your “business principles which you espouse” i made an observation about a blog which happens to be different to yours which in your eyes appears to be a crime…as i said before if you dont want observation and comment different to yours dont blog for comment on the topic
No suggestion of crime Helen. You are accusing me of something which I have not done, am not doing and for which you ave absolutely no evidence. This is not about opinion or observation. You have accused me of certain behaviour which is not based in fact. So, yes, you do have an agenda. let people know who you are so that they can understand.
Ah democracy…..the right to express an opinion without fear or favour…except on this blog when it differs to and or confronts the writer…
Helen, if your last comment were true then your comment would not even get posted.
You have posted your ill informed opinion. I, with direct and personal knowledge of this transaction, have said you are wrong on all counts. You have gone on the personal attack.
I have invited you to let people know who you are so that they understand your agenda. You have stepped up the attack.
You have the forum here, unmoderated, yet you choose to not comment based on fact or to let people know who you are.
I negotiated to buy Mark’s business months ago early in 2010. I could not raise the funds from the bank so the purchase did not proceed. I am still looking for a newsagency but probably in a country town now.
I can tell you Helen that the price was fair. A multiple lower than the average I get from brokers in Victoria. The information from Mark was more detailed too. Plus, accurate financials without any add backs. I have not seen that with any other newsagency I have looked at purchasing.
If the deal Mark has negotiated with the purchaser is like what was offered to me it is more than fair. I did not get as far as dealing with the landlord but he was prepared to help me get a new lease.
I have learnt a lot from this blog and it got me wanting to buy a newsagency because of the opportuities I see with all the changes happening now and all the newsagency shops which need new eyes. I still do want to buy a newsagency as I have said. I do not understand where you are coming from but I wanted to say that my experience in fact is not what you suggest could be the case with mark’s sale of his business at Forest Hill Chase.
Thanks Sam, but did you read my original blog,here it is again for clarity and just to refresh yours (and Marks)memory
Gee i feel sorry for these purchasers and im glad im not the Lai’s….first timers,in a shopping centre with increasing rents,decreasing magazine and paper sales across the industry and whatever goodwill that was paid for a certain profitability will absolutely dissipate over the next few months while business is shut…the industry is hard enough to make a dollar in without a fiery intro like this…doesnt seem quite right to me ,why would you pay your money and then have to shut…as i said good luck to them but im glad its not me
no comment on the seller or price or the deal or ethics morals or anything of the like no agenda either,just an informed observation and comment from 24 years of being in the game as to how hard the intro is likely to be in this case
@Helen #15, etc
‘doesnt seem quite right to me ,why would you pay your money and then have to shut…’
Is this the part you missed?
‘The construction dragged on as did the negotiations for a new lease. ‘
and from Mark #2
‘The sale was negotiated months ago. The temporary relocation came in the middle of this.’
From what I can gather from the posts there doesn’t seem to be anything I find wrong. I doubt Mark can make the construction go any faster.
i can see what helen is saying , i don’t think she is saying that Mark is ripping someone off i think she is more saying that what chance has the new owner got the have brought a business that cannot trade yet (that they agreed to ) .
I purchased my shop solely to move it so that i could have lotto and papers . i could not just open up across the road and trade so i purchased another to do so .i took a gamble and hoped the customers would follow and eventually they did and this is what i see the new owners of forest hill doing , so from what i can gather that is pretty much what the new owners of Marks shop did they have basically purchased the rights to open the shop in the new premises (which they decided to do just as i did ) . I really think you are reading into helens comment to much and now it is just become an agenda thing .
I have never heard the word AGENDA used so much in my life untill i started going on this blog site (which i love going onto every day ) Poor old Graeme has disapeard because of the AGENDA game . Bring back Graeme i miss his comments wether they be good ones or bad ones its all good .
Reading all of helen’s comments she does accuse mark of not practising what he preaches. It seems to me that the people buying the business had some role in the timing given that the new lease is theirs and not mark’s.
Thanks Shaun thats exactly my point,which by the way everyone is entitled to their opinion…..it was more a purchaser based observation in regards as to how difficult it may be initially for the incoming owner, not a moral,ethical or business judgement on the seller… but i still find it ironic that when one has an opinion and/or comment on this site in response to one of Marks, only to have it belittled denigrated and or ridiculed by the original writer purely because it differs from his view,i still love reading the blog i just dont see why he gets so defensive and reverts to personal attatcks if i or others dont agree with his its quite childish to say the least
I dont often comment but enjoying reading all the posts. Please explain who helen is and what the agenda is
Indeed helen, this is what you said to Mark:
i also find the irony between some of your blogs about supposed industry no-nos and the reality of actual tranaactins quite hypocritical sometimes IMHO
How could you say this without knowing the details unless you have some other agenda?
You also wrote this:
i just found it ironic to say the least to hear of a changeover that you are participating in that seems to fly in the face of all you seem hold to be negative to our industry in terms of handovers
No agenda again?
What is the point of writing these things if you are not trying to denigrate Mark.
I am not a mate of marks not a Tower Systems user not a newsXpress member.
so david what is the agenda would someone please just try and guess what are you all on about . it is like you are all side stepping something when you ask what is the agenda , well what do you think the agenda is ?? someone just have a guess . . i don’t know if i have an AGENDA when coming on this blog site but i do have an aim and that is to learn as much as i can about running my newsagency the good the bad the ugly of it .And i must admit i aslo like to come on here and watch and contibute to any little bickering going on . It passes the day and keeps me amused when i have some spare time like now .
I would have thought that the owners would have some insight into the industry, are aware of the traffic flow in this shopping centre, have seen the trading figures for the last few years and have based their decision on those figures. In some ways it is not too different from setting up a business in a new shopping centre where one needs the shopping centre to develop traffic, custome etc. Forrest Hill obviuously is already developed and figures are available to base a purchasing decision on. That is about as far as it should go in my opinion. At the end of the day the business was for sale, the buyer has had the opportunity to make a decision about buying the business either on their own which is how all businesses should be bought. It’s up to the buyer to look at all the risks and opportunities to weigh up. I don’t think that onus rests with the seller in this industry or any other.
I’m no spokesperson for Mark and he doesn’t need my help however I think he has been fairly transparent in my view otherwise why would he or anyone else at risk of contradiction post about it?
It’s very ok to have an opinion and state it however I wonder if we really are focussing too much on who is involved here rather than what.
Angelo , so what is your Agenda .
sorry just joking
Mark
I love reading this blog, it’s never boring.
If you don’t mind me asking, is this decision to sell Forest Hill part of an exit strategy from running newsagencies.
Sam @ 14
Ever thought about investigating an indillic island lifestyle one hour north of Brisbane – I know a growth Newsagency thats for sale?
Cheers
Peter
Mark,
I think I might name a racehorse, “WHATS YOUR AGENDA”.
Shaun S,
No agenda, but maybe I should get one. It looks like I’m missing out on something!
it seems to be the in thing
Sorry for my absence over the last few hours. been busy behind the counter.
Peter, not at all. I announced at this blog more than a year ago that I was putting Forest Hill on the market. I did that before opening another newsagency.
As for the agenda comments, all of Helen’s comments speak for her.
Fred, you could have a stablemate called ‘No Agenda’, as well 🙂
I think what heleng could simply be saying, is, ‘Bummer, dude’ for the poor buggers coming into a business with all these obstacles.
And all I can say is, ‘I hear ya, Brutha’. Even the rocks already in existence my head would be running for the door LOL
Y&G you assume that the incoming owner has not played a key role in the timing of the opening of the relocated shop.
All I assume is that things could have been easier, knowing how stressful it is to buy a business. Any business. I like things to go nice and smoothly. That’s all.
No more, no less. No blame, no accusations.
No agenda.
Y&G be open to the timing being something they are happy with. What one sees an as obstacle another may see as an opportunity.
mark i think you are putting to much thought into it and defending yourself , i think i am reading it different to what you are ,i reallly don’t think anyone is saying you have done anything wrong .
and i do see it as an oportunity the new owners would have (presuming) paid less than they would have if you were up and traiding the next day . the rights of the business have been sold as far as i can rerad into it and i say good on the new owners it is the way to do it
It a shame we don’t focus this much attention to some more important issues facing our industry.
Mark writes some fantastic stuff on this site and gives great advice, and keeps us in the loop on some important issues; maybe we should be focusing our aggression on those issues than continue to bicker about zip.
Heleng. re your post #12 Ah Democracy….Ah Slander & Libel is closer to the mark and you with some of your comments seem to me to be sailing very close to the wind in this regard.
Mark has been very open about the sale, far more so the he need be but the details should be confidential between he and the bbuyer.
You on the other hand seem hell bent on causing a stir without details.
As Vaughan said, lets get on with discussing the industry with this passion and the industry will improve for us all hopefully.
Sam, I have a good newsagent soon to go on the market in Far North Queensland, coastal, nearest newsagent 250k
Sam, don’t do it. There are far easier ways to make a living. If I had $500k to invest I’d buy a Subway or a Gloria Jeans (assuming you want to be in small business). The newsagency channel is dying a slow but very real death. There will be no newsagency channel in 15 years time. The Chinese and Indians will work this out sooner or later and there will be no buyers. The suppliers couldn’t give a rats and there’s no real (industry) leadership. I’m being serious here. Reconsider your decision.
Former, there are some excellent growth stories in the newsagency channel. Sure, we are experiencing change and this will increase. I see change as opportunities.
Well said Vaughan
Our efforts should be channelled at bigger issues facing our industry
Former, never a truer word spoken on this blog. In case you all missed it –
The newsagency channel is dying a slow but very real death. There will be no newsagency channel in 15 years time. The Chinese and Indians will work this out sooner or later and there will be no buyers. The suppliers couldn’t give a rats and there’s no real (industry) leadership.
GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN.