Over the past several weeks I’ve had several instances which caused me to wonder “What is going to happen to rural America’s home town, home-owned, funeral homes.” Again, it has not been one thing, but a string of instances that have made me wonder about that. For instance, I know of firms in my state of Minnesota, especially in smaller communities, that are having a hard time finding licensed staff. And, just last week I served on a panel at […]
Steve Wright, 4th generation funeral director, recently announced that the Wright Funeral Home in Moorhead, Minnesota, had been sold to longtime employee funeral directors and brothers Adam and Bailey Nordin. The Wright Funeral Home dates back to 1881 and has grown and served the greater Moorhead-Fargo community for 141 years. Steve Wright assumed full control and operation of the funeral home in 2003 when his brother, Chip, died. According to this article in the Fargo Forum, (Steve) did briefly consider […]
A high number of Baby Boomers in ownership roles, the un-planned last two years of Covid-related operations, the thought of an increase in capital gains taxes. . . . . .those are all valid reasons that have many owners of funeral homes thinking of getting out of the ownership realm.. At the beginning of 2021 it was predicted that those issues, among others, could quite possibly lead to a large volume of funeral homes changing hands in the 2021 calendar […]
Where were you when you first realized that the coronavirus may be something serious and you changed your course of habits to manage your lifestyle more safely? Angie and I were on a scheduled flight out of Honolulu returning to Minneapolis on February 1, the day after President Trump had instituted the flight ban from China. I remember wiping our seats down with clean wipes. . .something I had never done before. So, we have now had a little over […]
At least one source has indicated in a news story that Houston based Service Corporation International (SCI) has purchased historical family funeral business properties in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report reported yesterday in this article that SCI has, at a minimum, purchased the property of the Rabenhorst Funeral Home in Baton Rouge. According to the Rabenhorst web-site that you can access here, the funeral business has two locations – Rabenhorst Downtown and Rabenhorst East. According to […]
I spent three days last week at my annual funeral professional/death care professional golf event that I have attended almost every year since first being invited in 1991. From my count, there are about 130-144 invited guests that enjoy three days with each other in an atmosphere of fellowship and friendship. Most of the talk is friendly banter about our golf game or what our growing (and grown up) kids are up to. However, inevitably, when you have over a […]
With so much talk about the mergers and acquisitions in the death care industry of late, I thought it would be insightful to get the thoughts of Jake Johnson, President and CEO of Johnson Consulting Group on the subject. Mr. Johnson guides the company whom many consider to be the premier total solutions provider in the death care industry. For more information on Johnson Consulting, including a webinar on the acquisition market, you can access their web-site here. Here are […]
A sale was recorded last Monday in the Dayton, Ohio area pertaining to the purchase of land at 820 Miamisburg-Centerville Road according to property records reported by the Dayton Daily News. The property, with seven acres of land, was owned by Schlientz-Moore Funeral Home and purchased by Warren Family Funeral Homes, Inc. According to the Dayton Daily News, Warren Family Funeral Homes, Inc. does business in the Dayton area as Newcomer Funeral Homes. In the Dayton area Newcomer Funeral Homes […]
Yesterday Park Lawn Corporation announced another acquisition of a funeral home. Fresh off the announced purchase of seven cemeteries in New York and New Jersey last week for a combined price of close to $50 million, the Toronto based company announced the purchase of the Billingsley Funeral Home in Huntsville, Ontario. In a press release from Business Insider that you can read here Andrew Clark, Chairman and CEO of Park Lawn Corporation, stated, “Billingsley’s proximity to our existing operations in […]
Trends and surveys show us that the younger the person is in America the more apt they are to value “Experiences” over “Assets”. It is an interesting subject to me – as a younger part of the Baby Boom generation – I’ve always valued assets and usually have watched my money on the experiences. Experiences such as going to a Major League Baseball game — I’ve never bought the top price ticket — I’ve been satisfied with sitting in an […]
