How do I find a coin shop or gold buying business for sale in Canada?

Coin shops and gold buying storefronts are a small corner of the market, and they rarely have a category of their own. A listing may sit under jewellery, collectibles, pawn or plain retail. Some never reach a public listing at all. Searching with a few different labels, and talking to people in the trade, will turn up more than any single search ever does.

Try the labels sellers actually use

Search for coin shop, coin dealer, stamp and coin, bullion, precious metals and “we buy gold”. Then try the same words next to jewellery, pawn and collectibles. A seller may call the business a jewellery store that happens to buy gold, and that listing will not appear under a coin heading. Read the description for what the shop really does day to day.

Expect quiet sales between dealers

Dealers know each other, and many shops pass to another dealer, a long-time employee or a regular collector without a public listing. If you are serious, introduce yourself at coin shows and club meetings, and tell dealers what you are looking for. Business brokers who handle retail may also hear of a shop before it is advertised.

When the listing is a coin counter inside a jewellery store

• Is the coin counter part of the sale, or does the owner keep it?
• Who owns the stock on the counter: the shop, or customers on consignment?
• Does a particular person bring in the collectors?
• Is the gold buying run as its own line, or mixed into jewellery sales?

The answers show how much of the business you would actually be buying. A shop that also makes loans follows a different model; our page on finding a pawn shop for sale in Canada covers that side.