The numbers
As stated by the listing on August 18, 2026.
- Asking price
- $785,000
- SDE
- $321,472
- Gross revenue
- $885,616
- Multiple
- 2.44x
- Established
- 2017
- Employees
- 3
Why we like it
A business that needs a logo redesigned, a trade show banner printed by Thursday, or ten thousand direct mail pieces sorted and mailed by zip code cannot wait on a national online printer's shipping window, so it calls a local shop that can proof a color match in person and rerun a job the same afternoon if it comes out wrong. That proximity is most of what keeps small commercial printers alive in an industry where overall print volume has been shrinking for years as marketing budgets move to digital channels. This shop sits in Bergen County, close enough to Manhattan to pull from a dense pool of small and mid-sized businesses, law firms, medical practices and real estate offices that still need physical collateral even as they spend more elsewhere. It runs on three employees, which for a print operation is lean: someone is running the equipment, someone is likely handling design or production, and the owner is probably the one who answers the phone when a client needs a rush job or wants to talk through a new mailer. The stated revenue and cash flow describe a shop that has held a client base since 2017, but the real story is which relationships depend on the current owner personally and which are booked through repeat institutional habit. Growth here looks less like winning new accounts and more like selling existing print clients into the marketing services side of the business.
No personal licence needed
Owning and operating a commercial print and marketing shop does not require the buyer to hold a personal professional license or trade credential. Any specialized equipment operation or safety training can be handled by staff, so this is not a licensing gate for a buyer.
What worries us
- Owner-dependent client relationshipsWith only three employees, the owner likely functions as the primary salesperson and account manager, so client retention through a transition is unproven and needs direct verification.
- Customer concentrationPrint shops this size often depend on a handful of repeat commercial accounts for most of their volume, and losing even one or two could materially change the revenue picture.
- Equipment age and capital exposureCommercial presses and finishing equipment are expensive to maintain and eventually replace, and whether the shop owns or leases its equipment changes the real cost of keeping the business running post-sale.
The callSuits a hands-on buyer willing to manage sales relationships and verify equipment condition personally, not someone seeking a passive, owner-absent operation.
Our calculations
Our standard SBA 7(a) acquisition structure applied to the asking price. Assumptions below.
Sources
| SBA 7(a) loan | $745,303 |
| Seller standby note | $41,405 |
| Buyer cash at close | $41,406 |
| Total sources | $828,114 |
Uses
| Purchase price | $785,000 |
| Closing costs (est.) | $23,550 |
| SBA guaranty fee | $19,564 |
| Total project | $828,114 |
- Monthly payment
- $9,441
- Annual debt service
- $113,294
- DSCR
- 1.65xSTRONG
- Injection check
- Meets 10% ($82,811 against $82,811 required)
- Closing costs estimated at 3% of asking price
- Owner salary of $120,000, loaded
- Rate of Prime + 2.25% = 9.00%
- 10-year term, fully amortizing
- Injection split half cash, half seller standby note
How we would go about buying it
The order matters. Every step below is free until the last one, and each is a chance to walk away before it costs you anything.
- 1
Call the broker, not the bank
The listing is brokered, so the broker is the gate. Ask for the CIM and the last three years of tax returns, and expect to sign an NDA first. Do this before you talk to a lender: no lender will size a loan without the numbers, and the broker will not release them to a lender you have not engaged.
Open the listing - 2
Ask these before you spend anything
Specific to this business, from our read of the listing. The answers decide whether the numbers above survive contact.
- What percentage of annual revenue comes from the top three to five customers, and how long has each of those relationships been in place?
- Is the printing and finishing equipment owned outright or leased, what is its age, and what capital expenditure is likely needed in the next three to five years?
- How is revenue split between print production and marketing services such as design, mailing, or digital work, and has that mix shifted over the past few years?
- What is the owner's actual day to day role, particularly in sales and client management, and what transition support is being offered?
- Are there any written contracts with customers, vendors, or landlords that would transfer to a new owner, and when do they renew?
- 3
Take it to lenders who do this size
Talk to more than one. Rate is the least of it: the lender who has done fifty of these in New Jersey will close, and the one who has done two will waste your quarter. Below are the lenders whose typical deal size actually fits this one.
- 4
Structure the offer around the coverage
Our structure clears the floor at 1.65x, and a lender will run its own version with its own add-backs. If the earnings come back lower than stated, the price has to come down or the seller note has to grow. Model both before you make an offer.
Model it yourself
Who we would call
Active New Jersey acquisition lenders whose typical deal size fits this one.
- Live Oak Banking Company
41 loans in NJmedian $1,100,000median rate 8.95%~20 days to first disbursement
- Huntington National Bank
18 loans in NJmedian $518,400median rate 9.25%~32 days to first disbursement
- Peapack Private Bank and Trust
15 loans in NJmedian $815,000median rate 9.75%~18 days to first disbursement
Loan counts and medians are that lender’s change-of-ownership loans in New Jersey, FY2025 to FY2026 Q3. Funding speed is the lender’s national median from approval to first disbursement. Names link to our data profile for each lender.
The fine print
The statements this write-up makes about the trade and its rules, as opposed to the figures, were checked against public sources on August 18, 2026. 2 claims were checked.
Run your own numbers
The deal analyzer models price, seller note, equity injection, and DSCR under current SBA terms, with every assumption adjustable.
Open the deal analyzerListing facts as stated by the listing on August 18, 2026, not independently verified. Structure, payment, DSCR, and injection figures are our own computation under the assumptions above, using the Prime rate as of August 13, 2026. Lender shortlist from the SBA 7(a) FOIA file, FY2025 to FY2026 Q3, as of June 30, 2026. Methodology. See an error? Email us and we will correct it.