G
gzenk
Guest
What is the name of your state? IOWA
I have been assisting my parents with the purchase of an established craft/gift/framing/etc store in a small town (7000 people). The store is well known and has been in business for 15+ years. It also has what we believe to be exclusive rights to several product lines (Yankee Candles for example).
For 2-3 weeks my mom worked with the store owner on the purchase - what is included (inventory, equipment, etc) and terms of the purchase (purchase agreement, price, payment, etc). They finally worked out all of the details that were satisfactory for both parties on a Saturday morning and agreed to sign paperwork on the following Monday at noon. On that Saturday morning, they went to the bank (both store owner and mom) where the store owner announced to bank officials that my mom was the new owner of the store. The store owner also called the insurance agency (which happens to handle my parent's insurance as well) and advised them the same and the agent stopped by the store and the store owner again advised him that my mom was the new owner. They then announced it to the store employees and arranged a work schedule for the next week as my mom still had to give 2 weeks notice at her current employment. The store owner was also announcing this to customers as they were shopping on that Saturday morning. My mom offered to give the store owner a check twice and the store owner offered my mother keys to the store - both refused and said they'd wait until the paperwork was complete on Monday. At no time during this process was it ever mentioned or alluded that there was 'bidding' taking place.
Late Sunday afternoon, my mom receives a call from the store owner stating that she was in the process of calling other parties that were interested in the store purchase and announcing to them that the store had been sold to my mom. However, when she called one interested party, they got very upset and irrate that she had sold the store to someone else. So for some reason the store owner gave them a price that was higher than the agreed price with my mom. The store owner then calls my mom and tells her that she has sold the store to someone else and did not give my mom the opportunity to reconsider her price - not that she probably would have because the price had already been agreed upon and there was no known bidding on the store price occurring.
My parents sent the store owner (and 'new' store owner) a certified letter stating that they expect her to fulfill agreed on obligations to sell the store to my mom based on the fact that the store owner had announced to several people and other businesses that my mom was the new owner.
My parents have heard nothing from the store owner since other than the receipt from the certified letter. Do they have any legal ground to stand on as far as the purchase of this store? The building is leased, so no real estate is involved.
I'm guessing that any legal action would be limited to 'damages' which probably equates to a cash value. However, they are not looking for cash - they would just like to own the store. Unfortunately, any damages would probably be hard to prove as the store's financial records do not look good, however they are vastly different from the store's cash register receipts from the last several months (which the store owner turned over to my mom to examine while deciding to purchase or not). And any damages would probably be calculated by profit from this store VS opening a new store, correct? Unfortuantely, this town probably isn't large enough to justify opening another similar store and the new store probably wouldn't be able to acquire the same popular product lines.
Does anyone have any comments on what could be done to obtain the store? Yes, the agreements were purely verbal but with the complete understanding that they would be signed the following Monday. And there were several reputable witnesses to the verbal agreements.
And now, this is a small town - news travels fast. The store owner (previous store owner) has been receiving questions about the owner being my mom. She is telling them that my mom 'did not have the money' and that my mom backed out of the sale.
Time lapse on the 'agreed purchase' is about 3 weeks ago.
Thanks for your comments and time.
I have been assisting my parents with the purchase of an established craft/gift/framing/etc store in a small town (7000 people). The store is well known and has been in business for 15+ years. It also has what we believe to be exclusive rights to several product lines (Yankee Candles for example).
For 2-3 weeks my mom worked with the store owner on the purchase - what is included (inventory, equipment, etc) and terms of the purchase (purchase agreement, price, payment, etc). They finally worked out all of the details that were satisfactory for both parties on a Saturday morning and agreed to sign paperwork on the following Monday at noon. On that Saturday morning, they went to the bank (both store owner and mom) where the store owner announced to bank officials that my mom was the new owner of the store. The store owner also called the insurance agency (which happens to handle my parent's insurance as well) and advised them the same and the agent stopped by the store and the store owner again advised him that my mom was the new owner. They then announced it to the store employees and arranged a work schedule for the next week as my mom still had to give 2 weeks notice at her current employment. The store owner was also announcing this to customers as they were shopping on that Saturday morning. My mom offered to give the store owner a check twice and the store owner offered my mother keys to the store - both refused and said they'd wait until the paperwork was complete on Monday. At no time during this process was it ever mentioned or alluded that there was 'bidding' taking place.
Late Sunday afternoon, my mom receives a call from the store owner stating that she was in the process of calling other parties that were interested in the store purchase and announcing to them that the store had been sold to my mom. However, when she called one interested party, they got very upset and irrate that she had sold the store to someone else. So for some reason the store owner gave them a price that was higher than the agreed price with my mom. The store owner then calls my mom and tells her that she has sold the store to someone else and did not give my mom the opportunity to reconsider her price - not that she probably would have because the price had already been agreed upon and there was no known bidding on the store price occurring.
My parents sent the store owner (and 'new' store owner) a certified letter stating that they expect her to fulfill agreed on obligations to sell the store to my mom based on the fact that the store owner had announced to several people and other businesses that my mom was the new owner.
My parents have heard nothing from the store owner since other than the receipt from the certified letter. Do they have any legal ground to stand on as far as the purchase of this store? The building is leased, so no real estate is involved.
I'm guessing that any legal action would be limited to 'damages' which probably equates to a cash value. However, they are not looking for cash - they would just like to own the store. Unfortunately, any damages would probably be hard to prove as the store's financial records do not look good, however they are vastly different from the store's cash register receipts from the last several months (which the store owner turned over to my mom to examine while deciding to purchase or not). And any damages would probably be calculated by profit from this store VS opening a new store, correct? Unfortuantely, this town probably isn't large enough to justify opening another similar store and the new store probably wouldn't be able to acquire the same popular product lines.
Does anyone have any comments on what could be done to obtain the store? Yes, the agreements were purely verbal but with the complete understanding that they would be signed the following Monday. And there were several reputable witnesses to the verbal agreements.
And now, this is a small town - news travels fast. The store owner (previous store owner) has been receiving questions about the owner being my mom. She is telling them that my mom 'did not have the money' and that my mom backed out of the sale.
Time lapse on the 'agreed purchase' is about 3 weeks ago.
Thanks for your comments and time.