Selling your business in Kelowna and the Okanagan
We're based in Kelowna. Across the 13 towns on this page, from Salmon Arm to Osoyoos and over to Kamloops, Statistics Canada counts about 19,000 business locations with staff, and more than half have fewer than five employees. In a business that size, a buyer's first question is whether the work carries on without you.
Sit down with us in Kelowna
Our office is here, so you can talk it over across a table. If Kelowna is a long drive, we can start by phone, or you can book a call.
Kelowna, BC V1Y 8C7
Visits are by appointment.
What we do, and what stays your call
We help owners navigate the sale of their business. Here is the work we take on, and the decisions that never leave your hands.
Start with a free sale plan
What your business could sell for, as a range, and how we would take it to buyers. You sign nothing to get it.
Your books, made ready for buyers
We build a confidential package from your own statements, so a buyer can see how the business earns.
Club members get the first week
Each new business reaches our Buyers Market Club seven days before it can appear in public.
Your name stays private
A buyer signs our confidentiality agreement before learning your name or seeing your numbers.
Every decision is yours
You choose the buyer, the offer, the terms and the closing date.
Paid only when it sells
Nothing upfront. Our success fee comes at closing, out of the sale.
What BC asks of you when the business changes hands
These rules are the province's, so they are the same in Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton and Kamloops.
WorkSafeBC
Unpaid premiums can follow your equipment. WorkSafeBC says a firm's assets may be subject to a lien when premiums are owed, and asks buyers to contact it before buying any assets. A clearance letter protects your buyer, so keep your account current.
WorkSafeBC, Get a clearance letter
PST and GST
PST is charged on the equipment, vehicles and other goods in the sale, but not on goodwill. Without a PST clearance certificate, your buyer can be liable for any PST you still owe, so expect them to ask for one. On GST, you and your buyer can elect on Form GST44 not to charge it, if the sale qualifies.
Province of British Columbia, Buying and selling a business; Canada Revenue Agency, Form GST44
Your staff
When a business is sold, BC's Employment Standards Act treats your people's employment as continuous, and the new owner honours their years with you. Anyone you let go before the sale is yours to settle.
BC Employment Standards Act, section 97
Your lease or building
A lease or building in the sale is real estate, so a licensed commercial realtor handles that part of our deals. If a building changes hands, registering the transfer of title costs $83.82 at the Land Title and Survey Authority.
BC Financial Services Authority; Land Title and Survey Authority fee listing
A liquor licence
When a business changes owners, its liquor licence has to be transferred, a winery's or brewery's manufacturer licence included. You start the transfer in the province's licensing portal, your buyer applies and pays $330, and you can stay open meanwhile. An expired licence can't be transferred.
BC Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch, Transfer a liquor licence
Food and health permits
A permit to run a food service establishment can't be transferred under BC's Food Premises Regulation, so your buyer applies to Interior Health for their own. The District of Lake Country says the same of Interior Health approvals for personal services and childcare.
Food Premises Regulation, section 8; District of Lake Country
From Salmon Arm to Osoyoos, and Kamloops
Business locations with employees in each town, from Statistics Canada's count for June 2026.
Central Okanagan
- Kelowna7,298
- West Kelowna1,192
- Lake Country592
- Peachland180
The Kelowna metropolitan area as a whole: 9,901.
North Okanagan and the Shuswap
- Vernon2,138
- Salmon Arm963
- Coldstream348
- Armstrong204
South Okanagan
- Penticton1,802
- Summerland498
- Oliver224
- Osoyoos214
Kamloops, in the Thompson
- Kamloops3,624
Kamloops sits in the Thompson rather than the Okanagan, and we work there too. Its metropolitan area as a whole counts 4,377.
What your buyer files with the town
Each town licenses its own businesses and handles a new owner its own way. Plan the closing date around the step yours asks for.
Kelowna
Your buyer applies for a change of ownership, and the City charges $50 that it does not refund. It treats the application much like a new licence, so it can bring new inspections and approvals from Interior Health or the fire department. Once approved, your licence account passes to the buyer.
Vernon
Your buyer fills in the City's Business Ownership Change Form and attaches a letter of transfer. A handwritten letter is enough, as long as it clearly states the transfer of ownership.
Penticton
Tell the City in writing before the owner changes, and pay the transfer fee in its fees bylaw. If the type of business or its location changes, the buyer applies for a new licence.
West Kelowna
Every licence holder agrees to tell the City in writing of a change in ownership. Licences renew on their own, fee and all, until you cancel in writing, so close yours off once the sale is done.
Lake Country
Bought a business here? The District asks the new owner for its business licence update request form. Interior Health approvals stay behind, and the buyer gets their own.
Kamloops
Kamloops is outside the valley's mobile business licence, so a trade from the Okanagan that works there carries a Kamloops licence too. For a shop or office, the City refers the address for zoning, building, fire and health review before licensing, and aims to finish within 15 working days.
Trades that go from client to client can add a mobile business licence to the one from their home town. Every town on this page except Kamloops takes part, along with the rural areas of the Central Okanagan, and Summerland and the regional district both list it at $150 a year.
What is an Okanagan business worth?
Buyers pay a multiple of a business's yearly earnings, and the multiple moves with the industry. Our free estimate places yours in a range, using your industry's average multiple from published sales (North American sales data). Every range is on our free business valuation page, and the math is in how many times profit a business is worth.
Okanagan owners we help
We sell all types of businesses, in every industry. Across these 13 towns the biggest groups of employers are construction and the trades, health care, shops, professional services, repair and personal services, and restaurants. The valley adds its own: 151 orchards, vineyards and other fruit and nut farms, and 117 wineries, breweries and other drink makers with staff. For the rules across the province, read how to sell a business in BC.
- Construction and the trades
- Health care
- Shops
- Professional services
- Repair and personal services
- Restaurants
- Orchards and vineyards
- Wineries and breweries
Questions Okanagan owners ask
Can I meet you in person?
Is Kamloops part of the Okanagan?
Does my business licence go to my buyer?
I run a trade across the valley. What does my buyer need?
How is Succession Market paid?
Who sees my business?
Find out what your business could sell for, and how we would sell it. The plan is free.
Rather talk first? Call 778-760-8081, or visit us at 347 Leon Ave, Suite 210, Kelowna, by appointment.
Sources
- Business locations with employees by town, June 2026: Statistics Canada, table 33-10-1176-01, census subdivisions (Kelowna 7,298; West Kelowna 1,192; Lake Country 592; Peachland 180; Vernon 2,138; Salmon Arm 963; Coldstream 348; Armstrong 204; Penticton 1,802; Summerland 498; Oliver 224; Osoyoos 214; Kamloops 3,624; together 19,277, of which 10,232 have 1 to 4 employees), the Kelowna (9,901) and Kamloops (4,377) census metropolitan areas, and for the 13 towns together, fruit and tree nut farming (151) and beverage manufacturing (117).
- Plans to sell or transfer within ten years, British Columbia, third quarter 2026, businesses with a majority owner aged 65 or older: Statistics Canada, Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, table 33-10-1196-01 (30.1%).
- Licence rules: City of Kelowna, "Change of business ownership"; City of Vernon, "Business Licences & Permits"; City of Penticton, Business Licence Bylaw No. 2026-01, section 7; City of West Kelowna, commercial and industrial business licence application; District of Lake Country, "Business Licencing"; City of Kamloops, business licensing questions.
- Mobile business licence: Regional District of Central Okanagan, "Business licences"; District of Summerland, "Business licencing"; Town of Osoyoos, its page on the licence; Province of British Columbia, "Mobile business licences" (updated 21 September 2026).
- WorkSafeBC clearance: WorkSafeBC, "Get a clearance letter".
- Sales tax: Province of British Columbia, "Buying and selling a business" (updated 31 July 2026); Canada Revenue Agency, Form GST44.
- Staff: Employment Standards Act, RSBC 1996 c 113, section 97, and the Employment Standards Branch interpretive guide.
- Leases and land: BC Financial Services Authority, "Sale of a Business"; Land Title and Survey Authority fee listing, 1 April 2026.
- Liquor and food: BC Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch, "Transfer a liquor licence"; Food Premises Regulation, B.C. Reg. 210/99, section 8 (current to 27 October 2026).
Succession Market publishes this page from its office in Kelowna, British Columbia. It is general information, not tax or legal advice for a particular sale. Updated .