With the baby boomer generation reaching retirement age, a new concern has arisen among some in the business community.

According to Forbes, 60 percent of all business owners are baby boomers, a group of people born between 1946 and 1964. Mary Mechler, manufacturing specialist at the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center, said these business owners are beginning to reach retirement age at a very fast rate, and many do not have plans for what to do with their businesses.

“A business owner turns 65 every 57 seconds,” she said. “That’s a huge amount of people.”

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Mechler said these owners are starting to face a harsh realization when it comes to their businesses: a drastic change in culture.

“That was the era of people starting their own manufacturing companies and businesses,” she said. “Traditionally, they were taken over by their children, but these days, kids are not as likely to want to get into the family business.”

She said the number of businesses that transition to a second generation is less than 30 percent. That number shrinks to less than 15 percent by the third generation and less than 5 percent by the fourth.

One local business is facing this problem firsthand. Steve Rhoads, part-owner of Coleman-Rhoads Furniture in West Frankfort, said his store is closing after 33 years in business. His and his partner’s children were not interested in running the family business and decided to pursue different careers. They were unable to find a suitable buyer and so they decided they will close the store around Christmas.

Rhoads said his time in business has been successful and he is viewing his retirement as a celebration, but he does view the closing as bittersweet.

“I don’t think it was more sudden then we expected,” he said. “At our ages you start thinking of exit strategies and where you want to be and what you want to do. So, yeah, it’s on your mind, but we all go quicker than we expect.”

Luckily, help is already on the way for other businesses facing such a situation. Lisë Stewart is the founder of The Galliard Group, a network of business advisers that aims to aid family-owned businesses with successful transitioning.

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She said she recognizes the problem and is working to find solutions for small businesses.

“We call it the coming crisis of the family business,” she said. “If we don’t help these business owners, many of them are going to firstly end up working hard until they can no longer work. Secondly, somebody might end up liquidating the business well below the value of what the business could be if they’d really undertaken some planning. And third, some are going to just shut the door and walk away. In many of those cases, it is not healthy for the business and the potential for loss of jobs in small rural communities is enormous.”

She said this is why The Galliard Group is partnering with the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center to offer transition counseling for area businesses.

Both Stewart and Mechler stressed the need for businesses to plan in advance for a situation like this. Otherwise, rural communities will suffer.

“We’re losing the jobs in small rural communities, and that’s where we’re finding a tremendous amount of impact,” Stewart said. “I’m sure you’ve heard of this sort of ‘Main Street problem.’ You can drive down the main street of small towns all over the U.S. and see shuttered buildings. The point of what we’re trying to do is help those smaller communities keep those jobs.”

However, there are local success stories as well. The Oliver and Associates insurance agency in Carbondale transitioned well between the previous owner, Bill Oliver, and new owners Matt Brooks and Kathy Eickelman.

Brooks credits the low turnover of staff and the guidance of the previous owner as for the successful transitioning. He also said Eickelman, who worked at Oliver and Associates prior to the transition, was familiar with the clients. These moving parts helped create a successful plan and made the transition smooth and successful for all.

“It was all positive,” Brooks said. “There wasn’t a negative impact on anyone. We never felt like anybody’s job was in jeopardy. We wanted to keep it the same. That’s why we didn’t change the name.”

Regardless of the optimism, Stewart said it is still important to come up with a plan to transition successfully.

“What we believe in is transition with dignity,” she said. “We help business owners find the best way to transition out of their current leadership role with their dignity intact because it can be an extremely daunting thing to do.”

But all too often this is not the case. Stewart said that most businesses fail within two to three years of the transition.

“They don’t fail right away, but the transition itself creates an instability within the business,” she said. “A lot of the times the people they’ve identified to take over the business are not really the best qualified to do it.”

Stewart said the effects of retiring small business owners may also reach consumers.

“Consumers really miss out when we lose the flavor of our famous mom and pop shops all over the country,” she said.

Rhoads also shared this sentiment.

“What I fear is the American consumer’s choices are going to become more and more limited,” he said. “A lot of these small businesses provide products and services that are unique to them. The more you have these options closing, the more people’s choices are limited. The quality of life (for people in their 20s and younger) have available may be changed and diminished, and that concerns me.”

Despite what seems like a dire situation, some are more reserved in their forecast. Kevin Sylwester, associate professor of macroeconomics, said the impact on the larger economy will likely be minimal.

“I’m not sure how much the retirement of baby boomer business owners, specifically, would affect the macroeconomy,” he said. “I suppose one could tell a story that such baby boomers have been in business a long time and so their experience makes for better, more efficient, more profitable businesses. But even if this is true, and I am skeptical that it is, then I suspect that the magnitudes are small.”

Les O’Dell, executive director of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce, said the millennial generation in particular could benefit greatly.

“There are few generations as entrepreneurial-minded as those in their 20s and 30s,” he said. “It’s certainly better to purchase an existing business, inherit a loyal customer base in some cases and have an established location than it is to start from scratch.”