Funeral home sale “keeps it local” and “generational”

January 17, 2024/Business/

We’ve said it many times before, “funeral home ownership has historically been local, family-owned, and generational”. And while there are a good many really good regional and national consolidators, many times “keeping it local” can be a defining part of what an owner wishes to do when he or she eventually decides to sell their funeral business.

As you can read in this article from the Observer of Dunkirk, New York, the McGraw-Kowal Funeral Home was sold, and as the article states, “The Kowal brothers, John and Harry Jr., are heading into a well-deserved retirement following a successful run of nearly 40 years as the popular funeral directors at the landmark Central Avenue establishment in the city of Dunkirk”.

According to the article, the Kowal family has operated the funeral home since 1984 when the brothers’ father, Harry Kowal, Sr. bought the business from Robert S. McGraw who was retiring at the time. For the next 40 years, the Kowal family served the families of Dunkirk and the surrounding area.

It was announced in late 2023 that the McGraw-Kowal Funeral Home was being sold to another Dunkirk funeral home owner, Richard “Rick” Mackowiak, owner of the Mackowiak Funeral Home and the Newman Funeral Home, both located in Dunkirk. That sale situation resulted in what John Kowal noted was the “Best Case Scenario“.

Here’s what John Kowal said in that regard, “Keeping the sale local is ideal for the community. Rick is a familiar face in the area and many families have already used his services. The Mackowiak family, like ours, is known for multiple generations of funeral directors. Rick’s son, Michael, adds yet another generation. This sense of continuity and familiarity is important in running a successful funeral home and will make for an easier transition for both the community and the new owners.”

According to their website the Mackowiak Funeral Home has served the Dunkirk community since 1902 and is in their 5th generation of family ownership.

Here is the website for the McGraw-Kowal Funeral Home

Here is the website for the Mackowiak Funeral Home

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take: As funeral service continues to evolve it is my opinion that we will see more and more of these types of business acquisitions/mergers/combinations. I think there are several reasons in funeral service that these type of combinations make a lot of sense and will continue to going forward.

For the purchaser, among other advantages of getting larger, they are able to combine staffing, possibly facilities, and financial economies of scale to their business that will help them compete in an era where we may see consumers spending less on death care services.

For the seller, depending on the size of the business and whether it can draw offers from outside firms, the companies that stand to “win” the most from the acquisition may very well be their in-community competitor or an adjacent community funeral home because the economies of scale gained on the acquisition may prove more valuable than the simple purchase and operation of an existing funeral home by an outsider. If that is the case, then a seller may get the most value for his/her business from this one-time competitor or neighbor.

I also believe that as low-cost direct cremation continues to increase in popularity, the case volume numbers of an individual funeral home firm will have to reach a certain size, and larger relative to whatever that number is today, before the regional and/or national consolidators will consider the purchase.

I believe that sellers, buyers, employees, and the community may all benefit from these local businesses coming together in one way or another.

Related — Here’s another story with the same subject. This transaction from Missouri.

Here is the website of the Wright Funeral Home.

Here is the website of the GEH Family Funeral Homes.

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