Evan Weese
Staff reporter- Columbus Business First

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A search on BizBuySell.com shows Spinelli’s Deli in the Short North, J. Gumbo’s cajun restaurant downtown and the Peacock West restaurant on Columbus’ west side all are for sale.

The listings are just several of a bevy of recent restaurant and retail shops in Central Ohio posted to the online business-for-sale marketplace.

During the second quarter, 173 Central Ohio businesses were listed at BizBuySell.com, the most for any three-month period since the San Francisco-based company started tracking it in 2007.

“You’re seeing more supply come on the market both nationally and in Columbus,” General Manager Bob House told me. “Businesses are now on the uptick, showing growth, and it’s a good time to be selling.”

Much of that activity in Central Ohio was driven by 110 listings for restaurant and retail shops, up from 82 during the second quarter of 2013. The movement may reflect owners’ confidence in getting the price they want, House said.

Though not comprehensive, BizBuySell’s quarterly analyses provide snapshots of the marketplace for small businesses in more than 50 metropolitan areas.

The median asking price for businesses listed in Central Ohio during the second quarter was $175,000, which happens to be the asking price for J. Gumbo’s. Spinelli’s, meanwhile, is listed at $149,000 and Peacock West is listed at $49,000.

The median asking price for Central Ohio is down from $244,000 in the same three-month period a year earlier, a drastic swing that may not be representative of the whole market, but which House said reflects increasing supply and thus many more tiny shops.

Throughout the U.S., 2,029 businesses changed hands – transactions are used for national data instead of listings – during the second quarter, the highest mark since 2008, according to the report.

Evan Weese covers funding and capital for Columbus Business First.