The numbers
As stated by the listing on October 12, 2026.
- Asking price
- $1,550,000
- SDE
- $695,000
- Gross revenue
- $2,330,000
- Multiple
- 2.23x
- Established
- 2005
- Employees
- 4
Why we like it
An engagement ring is rarely bought on the first visit, and a buyer who finds a jeweler they trust tends to come back for sizing, insurance appraisals, repairs, and the next big occasion, which is why a jewelry store's real engine is repeat and referral work rather than the walk-in case. California does not require a general license to sell new jewelry, but any store that buys or takes in trade used gold, diamonds, or watches typically has to register as a secondhand or precious metals dealer with the local police or sheriff, hold incoming items for a waiting period, and report transactions, a layer of compliance that sits alongside the retail business itself. This store has operated in San Bernardino County for two decades with four employees, long enough to have built the trade accounts, estate connections, and custom design relationships that a new entrant cannot simply buy. Because most of what the business owns is sitting in cases rather than recorded as equipment, the first thing to understand is how the loose stones, gold, and finished pieces are valued and insured, since a jeweler's inventory is the business in a way a dry cleaner's equipment never is. Growth here tends to come less from new customers than from capturing more of each existing client's lifetime jewelry spending, repairs, custom work, appraisals, before it goes to a competitor or an online buyer.
You probably need a licence to run this
California does not require the buyer personally to hold a license to sell new jewelry, but if this store buys, trades for, or takes in used gold, diamonds, or watches, which is common for jewelry stores and not addressed in the listing, it likely needs to be registered as a secondhand or precious metals dealer with the local police or sheriff's department. That registration is typically tied to the individual owner and the business location, usually requires a background check, and does not automatically transfer in a sale, so the buyer would need to apply for it in their own name rather than inherit the seller's registration. Confirm with the seller or broker whether this registration exists today and what re-establishing it would involve.
What worries us
- Owner and staff relationships carry the tradeLuxury jewelry sales, custom design, and estate purchases run on trust built over years, and much of the seller's network of repeat customers, custom clients, and diamond or gold suppliers may be personal to the seller rather than to the business; that goodwill can leave with them if the four-person staff can't carry the relationships forward.
- Inventory, not equipment, is the balance sheetA jewelry store's value sits mostly in the cases, and the seller's stated SDE and asking price don't by themselves say what the gold, diamonds, and finished pieces are worth at cost or carried on the books. Whether inventory is included in or separate from the $1,550,000 price materially changes the real cash required at close.
- Seasonality and discretionary spendingBridal and engagement purchases plus the holiday season typically drive an outsized share of annual jewelry sales, and luxury jewelry is discretionary spending that can soften quickly if the local economy weakens, making a slow quarter here look worse than it would in a needs-based repair business.
The callSuits a buyer willing to learn gemology, inherit trade relationships, and underwrite inventory and licensing risk, not someone wanting a hands-off business.
Our calculations
Our standard SBA 7(a) acquisition structure applied to the asking price. Assumptions below.
Sources
| SBA 7(a) loan | $1,471,856 |
| Seller standby note | $81,770 |
| Buyer cash at close | $81,770 |
| Total sources | $1,635,396 |
Uses
| Purchase price | $1,550,000 |
| Closing costs (est.) | $46,500 |
| SBA guaranty fee | $38,896 |
| Total project | $1,635,396 |
- Monthly payment
- $18,845
- Annual debt service
- $226,135
- DSCR
- 2.48xSTRONG
- Injection check
- Meets 10% ($163,540 against $163,540 required)
- Closing costs estimated at 3% of asking price
- Owner salary of $120,000, loaded
- Rate of Prime + 2.25% = 9.25%
- 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.
- Is the jewelry inventory included in the $1,550,000 asking price, and what is its cost basis, retail value, and insured value?
- Does the store currently hold a secondhand or precious metals dealer registration with local police or the sheriff, and what would a new owner need to do to obtain one in their own name?
- What share of gross revenue comes from new jewelry sales versus repairs, custom design, appraisals, and buying or trading gold and estate pieces?
- What is the current jewelers block insurance policy, including premium, coverage limits, and security requirements like safe rating and alarm system, and will the carrier maintain coverage under new ownership?
- How many of the top clients and trade or vendor relationships, such as diamond suppliers, estate buyers, or appraisal referrals, deal directly and primarily with the seller personally?
- 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 California 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 2.48x, 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 California acquisition lenders whose typical deal size fits this one.
- Live Oak Banking Company
158 loans in CAmedian $760,000median rate 9.00%~20 days to first disbursement
- Open Bank
64 loans in CAmedian $902,500median rate 8.75%~33 days to first disbursement
- Celtic Bank Corporation
50 loans in CAmedian $804,800median rate 9.38%~14 days to first disbursement
Loan counts and medians are that lender’s change-of-ownership loans in California, 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 October 8, 2026. 7 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 October 12, 2026, not independently verified. Structure, payment, DSCR, and injection figures are our own computation under the assumptions above, using the Prime rate as of September 28, 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.