When Scott Haston, a 1980 Haines High School graduate, returned to town this May after 35 years away, his first reaction was, “Everywhere you look, there’s a ‘For Sale’ sign.”

Walking down Main Street and its transecting avenues, it’s easy to see how Haston got that impression. More than half a dozen downtown businesses are for sale, with others scattered around Fort Seward and out Haines Highway.

A recent survey administered through the Haines Chamber of Commerce offers some clues to what’s going on.

As participants in Alaska’s business retention and expansion program, 25 owners filled out lengthy surveys about their businesses. (The chamber hopes to have around 100 completed surveys by next spring.)

Of the 25 businesses responding, 40 percent are considering selling their businesses, and 8 percent are considering closing. When asked why they are considering changes to their business – which could include selling, moving or expanding – the top three answers were changing market conditions (15 percent), profitability (13 percent) and retirement (11 percent).

In interviews with local business owners who are either selling their businesses or contemplating selling, age and retirement seemed to be major factors. Baby boomers, defined as those born between 1946 and 1964, are now cycling out of the work force.

Looking at a graph of the Haines Borough’s July 2015 population estimate compiled by the Alaska Department of Labor, boomers represent the largest segment of the Haines population.

Liz Heywood, who owns the Babbling Book with her husband Tom, said she believes the high number of businesses for sale isn’t because of a lagging economy or waning interest in commercial investment, but a result of the town’s aging population.

Both retired teachers, she and her husband are looking at the next five years and trying to decide what to do with their bookstore, which Heywood acknowledged is also struggling in the Internet age.

“I do think the reality of running a business in a small town when there is such a large Internet presence is difficult,” she said. “There is a cost to a small community when so many people do their shopping online and at big box stores.”

Beverly Jones has struggled to adjust King’s Store, a printing and office supply business, to changing technology. Jones has operated King’s since 1997, and it has been on the market for three years. The business is listed at $349,000.

The business started as a photo processing lab and has transitioned to dealing with digital cameras but is still confounded by a generation whose phone doubles as their camera.

“This stuff is pretty cheap down south,” said Jones’ husband Dave Canipe, gesturing at a rack of digital memory cards on the King’s counter. “(The tourists) don’t want to pay Alaskan prices.”

King’s, traditionally a year-round business, closed last winter for the first time. Jones attributed the closure to medical issues and a desire to spend time with family down south, the same reasons she is selling her business.

“You’re looking at people who are retirement age or wanting to do something else,” Jones said of Haines businesses up for sale.

Retiring is on the mind of Fred Bretthauer, 75, who is in his 22nd year with the Haines Hitch-Up RV Park. While Bretthauer at one point had the business listed for sale, he isn’t actively pursuing that right now, but wouldn’t turn down the right offer.

“We’re getting to the age where we have to consider something like that,” he said.

Bretthauer speculated that the uptick in for-sale businesses could be attributed to the combination of boomers looking to retire and a rebounding economy. “Going through the recession, people hung on with their fingernails. They got lean, and they went into survival mode. Most of those people are like us. They are getting older, and when things start to turn around and get a little bit better – even though it isn’t back to what it was in 2001 – people are going to sell, and I think that is what you are seeing,” he said.

Finding the right person to take over is tricky, he said. “You look at most of the people in those businesses (that are selling), they are not young folks. And for young people to come to Haines, it is kind of like finding a good administrator or police chief. It’s tough finding the right fit.”

Like Bretthauer and many other Haines business owners, Albert Sacks doesn’t have a succession plan for his business, the Summer Inn Bed and Breakfast, which he has operated for four years. After 30 years in the insurance business in the Lower 48, he bought the inn and moved to Haines. Now, it’s on the market for $252,500.

Sacks said business isn’t bad, but it isn’t getting better, either. Mainly he is selling because he misses living back East, where his two daughters live.

“I came here for adventure. I wanted to try it,” Sacks said. “It seemed like a good idea. It still does. I’d do it again.”

Sacks is confident he’ll be able to sell the business. “I know it’s going to move,” he said. “I’m a very motivated seller and I’m a very proactive person when it comes to marketing.”

According to the Chamber of Commerce’s survey results, 68 percent of respondents do not have a succession plan for how to pass on ownership of the business.

Christy Tengs Fowler, 61, doesn’t have one, because she doesn’t want to push her children into taking over the Bamboo Room and Pioneer Bar. Tengs Fowler started bartending at the family business when she was 19, and took over in 1991. She posted the business for sale last spring.

“Our kids have their own career path and our parents are needing extra care and we are reaching retirement age,” Tengs Fowler said.

She got roped into the family business, and gave up her music career to continue running things. She doesn’t want the same thing to happen to her children. “They knew from quite a young age that they didn’t want to do this,” Tengs Fowler said, and that is perfectly fine with her.

Son Marty Fowler, who is starting his junior year of high school, said he wants to travel, and pursue work in photography and film. Marty’s brother Chevy is in his third year of civil engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

“I am hopeful somebody will want to do this, because a lot of people want to be in the bar and restaurant business,” Tengs Fowler said.

The Bamboo Room and Pioneer Bar is listed at $1.12 million.

Chamber executive director Debra Schnabel said the town hasn’t figured out the new format for businesses that appeal to young entrepreneurs. “There’s a lot of people who are selling, but there are not a lot of people who are buying because of the lifestyle issue,” she said.

Many of the businesses for sale are housed in inefficient, outmoded buildings, Schnabel observed. “The private infrastructure is technologically out of date. People want to sell their businesses (and) a younger person comes to town and says, ‘Oh my God, it will take a million dollars to refurbish this.’”

Despite the large number of businesses for sale, investment in Haines continues: Talia’s Treasures and the Haines Brewing Company moved downtown, the Aspen Hotel opened, the Pilotlight Restaurant has two young owners who started their own business, and Klondike Chiropractic owner Chris Thorgesen has bought up several pieces of commercial real estate.

“The town isn’t about to dry up and blow away,” Schnabel said.

Other Haines businesses for sale include: the Bear Den (listed at $810,000), Chilkat Restaurant and Bakery ($509,000), Dejon Delights (unlisted), Eagle’s Nest Motel ($650,000), Alaska Guardhouse Bed and Breakfast ($1.2 million), Salmon Run Campground and Cabins ($599,000), the Cherry House ($250,000) and Valley of the Eagles Golf Links (unlisted).

Commercial buildings for sale include: the former L.A.B. Flying building ($495,000), the former Lynn Canal Counseling building on Mission Street ($325,000) and the Acme Transfer building ($160,000).

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