Move over tech startups—young entrepreneurs are now buying “boring businesses”

On a sunny afternoon, 23-year-old Maureen Ngo hopped on her Vespa and spent the day zipping around Vancouver, plopping letters into the mailboxes of local laundromat owners. This wasn’t a customer review, a lost-and-found request or a billing dispute—nor was Ngo seeking a job in the service industry. Her request was far more unusual: she wanted to buy their businesses.

A recent university dropout, Ngo had originally enrolled in UBC’s dietetics program with plans to become a sports dietician—an ambition shaped by her years as a competitive weightlifter. But she soon realized that the career wouldn’t offer the financial freedom she envisioned. In her fourth year, Ngo made a bold pivot: she left school to become a full-time entrepreneur, setting her sights on acquiring a retiring owner’s so-called “boring business.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by BCBusiness Magazine (@bcbusiness_mag)

Ngo’s side hustle as a swim instructor kept her afloat while she took the time to plan her next move. Although her mobile swim school was successful with a full load of clients, Ngo often found herself working through illness and skipping vacations—time off meant no income. She felt tired of trading in her time for money. “I wanted to grow and buy a business that didn’t need me to necessarily be there for it to operate,” she says.

Four days following her Vespa sojourn, Ngo got a phone call. The ready-to-retire owner of 16th and Main Coin Laundry, located just off Mount Pleasant’s bustling Main Street, was interested in selling his family-run, generations-old laundry business. The two negotiated a price Ngo felt was fair (less than $100,000) through a private sale—no realtor, no accountant, no intermediaries. Ngo had never done anything like this before. She drafted the contract herself and hired a lawyer to help guide the process.

With youth unemployment in Canada at a generational high and a university degree no longer a guaranteed ticket to a stable career, a growing number of young entrepreneurs in Canada are skipping traditional job paths in favour of acquiring “boring businesses” with reliable cash flow. Think laundromats, car washes, HVAC services and plumbing companies—steady, unglamorous ventures now changing hands as boomers retire, face succession challenges or lack a next-generation heir.

“We are seeing more of this in larger Canadian cities today where such transformation makes them into local community hubs rather than just utilitarian spaces,” explains Pino Bacinello, president of mergers and acquisitions specialist Pacific Mergers. Social media influencer and author of Main Street Millionaire Codie Sanchez—whose viral YouTube videos and podcast appearances first introduced Ngo to the world of “boring businesses”—seconds Bacinello. “It’s not just about making money, it’s about creating uncancellable, community-rooted wealth that’s resilient to economic swings,” she says.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Codie Sanchez (@codiesanchez)

That shift is also prompting changes in how future business owners are being trained. At UBC Sauder School of Business, entrepreneurship professor Fraser Pogue says he’s increasingly introducing students to the idea of acquiring established businesses, rather than starting from scratch. “Given recent uncertainty in the markets due to AI transformation, tariffs, inflationary pressures, I’ve started exposing students to more content on buying existing businesses,” he says. 

Pogue—who often guides his student entrepreneurs through such endeavours—advises that when purchasing an existing business, buyers should anticipate a transition period of six to 12 months. During this time, he recommends refraining from making any major changes, focusing instead on understanding the company culture, learning from senior management and building relationships with employees and customers.

A similar approach helped Ngo successfully take over the laundromat. She shadowed the previous owners for many weeks—doing due diligence like reviewing financials, learning to operate the machines and making sure the business matched what had been promised on paper.

From there, Ngo gradually grew the venture through a series of strategic moves: renaming the store to East Van Laundry, extending operating hours from just a few hours a week to a full seven days, introducing new services like drop-off laundry, pick-up and delivery and outsourced dry cleaning. She also transformed the space with fresh paint, added greenery and an upbeat, inviting atmosphere that fit Mount Pleasant’s vibe. “I wanted to make this feel like an extension of your house,” she says.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by East Van Laundry (@eastvanlaundry)

As Ngo secured business contracts with local clinics, spas and restaurants that required regular laundry service, the commercial side of the business grew, allowing her to hire more staff.

Today, Ngo oversees a team of five laundromat attendants, two delivery drivers and a virtual assistant. She’s no longer behind the machines doing laundry herself—instead, she’s focused on leading her team and scaling the business. With a recent profile in the Globe and Mail and a viral TikTok video under her belt, she says it finally feels like all her hard work is being recognized, and the business is gaining momentum in ways she never could have imagined. Come 2026, she hopes to take the next big step: acquiring a second laundry business.

In the nearby suburb of Coquitlam, 33-year-old Akshay Agrawal and his wife Miriam Berlin made a comparable leap. A former realtor and AI professional, Agrawal was let go from his position at real estate portal Realtor.com during the wave of mass tech layoffs in 2023. He then began canvassing businesses, looking not just for reliable income but also a way to take control of his future by owning rather than working for someone else. Eventually, he decided to join Berlin— a practising dentist—in acquiring a long- running dental clinic.

Agrawal narrowed his focus to dental practices due to his wife’s background, the industry’s lower failure rate and its stronger cash flow compared to other businesses he considered—like an electric vehicle modification shop. He approached the process with the precision of a data analyst and the hustle of a cold caller: he spoke to dentists in their network, attended dental seminars, consulted brokers and even messaged dentists on LinkedIn who had graduated before 1990. Finally, the couple connected with Dr. Gavin Chu—Berlin’s own dentist for the past 15 years—who was quietly considering semi-retirement.

From there, things moved quickly. The acquisition took just six months from start to finish, with the official sale closing in early 2024. With an investment of about $2 million, the duo took over the Coquitlam practice, keeping most of the original staff and retaining Dr. Chu in a part-time capacity.

Like Ngo—often the youngest person in the room and a newcomer to the service industry—Agrawal grappled with a steep learning curve, surrounded by employees who knew far more about the dental world than he did.

But post transition, Agrawal started making clear changes to the workplace. He rebranded the clinic as Luminous Dental Centre, moving away from a solo-practice model to a multi-practitioner setup focused on patient comfort. He also replaced outdated software with tech-forward systems that handled bookings, reminders and digital charting. On the staffing side, he added two new employees—balancing experience with fresh talent.

Building on these early changes, the couple saw an opportunity to grow beyond just one location. When they learned the neighbouring practice was for sale, they acted quickly, acquiring Elemental Dental alongside a partner dentist. Unlike their original, well-established clinic, this one offered the challenge of building a patient base almost from scratch, despite already having the space and equipment in place.

Like Ngo, Agrawal understands that the financial payoff won’t come overnight. He expects to spend five to 10 years earning the same—or even less—than he did in tech before seeing real profits. 

Both Ngo and Agrawal agree that the biggest myth about buying a “boring business” is that it’s easy money. “People think it’ll be passive income—that they’ll make six figures without lifting a finger,” Ngo says. “But if you’re not constantly learning, adapting and improving, you’re falling behind.”

This new wave of business buyers is looking to the past to prepare for the future—“buying into decades of goodwill and systems,” as Codie Sanchez puts it. For them, success doesn’t come from chasing the next app or crypto trend, it comes from the opportunities right in front of them.