WarmGlass.com

After more than five years of owning a large studio just outside Atlanta, I'm nearing the age to retire. Best case scenario: Sell the studio as a business, complete with large kilns, coldworking equipment, and lots of glass, as well as mailing list for workshops, firing schedules and any needed training for the new owners, and the lease (cheap rent!) transfers to them. Second-best case is that someone buys the contents and moves it out by the time the current lease is up, September 2025.

I am in a growing, safe location and there is virtually no competition for casting, architectural glass, and the dedicated sandbed kiln. The nearest workshop offering is just for fusing and it's well outside the city. This would be such a great opportunity for, say, someone who's in the Pacific Northwest and wants to be the only player in a major market with much lower costs.

But I don't know where / how to advertise for this that would target the right people. GAS opportunities page doesn't have an appropriate category. There are Facebook groups for supplies, and I'll try those, but I don't know how effective a "studio for sale" listing would be. I love this forum but I don't know that it's reaching many people anymore (sniff).

Thought I'd just throw this out there and hope one of y'all has some advice.

I would get a business real estate broker and him/her do the work. They'd have a better knowledge of where and how to advertise your business. Well worth it.

business real estate broker

Thanks, Andy. I will sure look into it at some point.

My concern is that the potential market for such a specialized business is probably going to be very narrow, and wouldn't the broker have to know something about that specific market? It seems unlikely that someone who knows nothing or very little about kilnforming is going to buy it, doesn't it?

Possibly but I'd still talk to one. I'm in the same boat but with a stained glass shop. I've downsized over the years from about 3000 sq ft to a small retail shop of just over 400. There's a lot of potential for someone to take it over and expand again but like you...my market is very narrow.

UPDATE: Landlord has decided to turn the space into warehouse. So now what's for sale is the entire studio -
Equipment
Custom-built dedicated sandbed kiln, 72” x 40” (81” x 41” external dimensions)
Custom-built casting kiln with bottom, side and top elements, 60” x 30” shelf
Bell lid with quartz elements on pulley system, shared by two kilns
GB4 controller, solid state relays
Dual media oval Olympic, shelf 14” x 27”
JenKen AFG Oval 13 glass kiln, 36” x 20” shelf
Fiber glass kiln JenKen 16” square
EvenHeat vitrigraph kiln
Siphon sandblaster
CRL wet belt sander
MK Diamond 212 tile saw
24” lap grinder with electroplated disks
pneumatic and electric angle grinders
industrial drill press with hollow-core bits
mosaic grinder
air blaster
80 molds for slumping and drops
full kits of tools plus chairs for 12 students
full complement of kiln furniture, belts, grinding disks and other accessories
stainless steel tables, utility sink, coldworking table
industrial floor-to-ceiling steel shelving
large clay slab roller
numerous appliances and other tools
Office desk, chair, wooden shelves

Bullseye Glass
approx 200 full and half sheets and dozens of partial sheets of all types and colors
85 billets in various colors
36 five-pound jars of coarse frit
assorted jars of medium, fine and powdered frit, stringers and rods
bins of scrap sorted by color
also a large inventory of float glass in various sizes

Casting materials
vermiculite sheets and molds
fiber board
refractory dry goods
related supplies and tools

Business components
all firing schedules for many techniques in each kiln
workshop curricula
complete library of books about kilnformed glass
basic training for new owners