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Buchanan Assets

Insights

Sectors we're studying.

We write up the markets we look at. It sharpens our own thinking, and it shows owners how we reason about a business.

Operating businesses

What grocery wine did to Colorado liquor stores

Colorado let grocery stores sell wine in 2023. Far fewer liquor stores died than forecasters claimed, and survivors kept one category grocery cannot sell.

Operating businesses

Laundromat economics after the coin slot

The card reader gets the attention, but a laundromat lives or dies on the utility bill, the empty payroll, and demand that holds when money is tight.

Operating businesses

Private equity is rolling up the trades

PE closed a record 55 HVAC deals in 2024, paying near 18x for platforms while buying independents at 5x. What that arbitrage means for buyers.

Illustration of a classic delicatessen counter with hanging cured meats and the Denver skyline in the window
Operating businesses

Denver's deli problem is a national one

Per resident, Denver has more classic delis than New York. The category is failing everywhere for a structural reason, and the survivors all share one workaround.

Illustration of a gondola cabin traveling over the snowy town of Winter Park, Colorado
Real estate

Winter Park's gondola bet and rental supply

A $2 billion master plan adds a two-mile town gondola and up to 2,950 new doors. The rental data vendors quote is unreliable; the new supply is a hard number.

Illustration of a car moving through an automated tunnel car wash with foam and spinning brushes
Operating businesses

Car wash valuations fell from 12-16x to near 5x

Platform car wash multiples fell from 12-16x EBITDA to near 5x in four years while the industry stayed fragmented. The edge moved from buying to operating.

Illustration of a suburban house under a hailstorm with Colorado's Front Range mountains behind it
Operating businesses

What hail and insurance do to Colorado roofing

Hail drives roughly half of what Front Range homeowners pay for insurance, the coverage is quietly shifting risk back onto owners, and a new state law is repricing roofs. That reshapes which roofing business is worth owning.

Illustration of a home with rooftop solar panels and a wall-mounted battery system at dusk
Energy

The home battery stopped being a toy

US storage hit a record 57.6 GWh in 2025 and nearly half of new solar now ships with a battery. The durable money is in the installer who sizes and services it.