Retail Valuation Template

With your earnings inputs in place, move to the Income Approach sheet and select the SDE multiple that fits your store type and situation. The reference table on that sheet shows typical ranges by retail category — specialty stores with loyal repeat customers and strong gross margins command higher multiples than commodity retailers or stores with heavy online competition. On the Market Approach sheet, enter any comparable sales you can find. Your business broker is the best source for these; if you don't have a broker, BizBuySell's sold listings are a reasonable proxy. On the Asset-Based sheet, enter your inventory at cost and make an estimate of FF&E replacement value.

Several factors push retail SDE multiples up or down from the 1.5x–3x midmarket range. Multiples expand when the store has a long lease at favorable rent (below 10% of revenue), a loyal customer base with high repeat purchase rates, a proprietary or exclusive product line, strong online sales that supplement the physical location, and consistent revenue growth over multiple years. Multiples compress when the lease is short or above-market, the store faces direct Amazon or big-box competition, inventory turnover is slow (excess dead stock is a liability, not an asset), or the business is heavily dependent on the owner's personal relationships. A store with a well-documented customer file, an active email list, and trained staff who will stay on after the sale can command a meaningfully higher multiple than one where the owner is the business.