Micro-Private Equity is the practice of acquiring small businesses, often in distressed situations, and operating them through recovery: the private equity model of buying and improving operating companies, applied at the scale of individual small businesses.
Opportunities tend to surface where a small business can no longer carry its fixed obligations. A tenant struggling under a commercial lease is a typical case, since a buyer who takes over the business relieves the owner of the lease and keeps the operation running.
One deal source is commercial real estate brokers acting as tenant representatives, who know of businesses in distress situations that a buyer could take over to get them out from under the lease. Traditionally high-traffic locations, such as Flower Hill Mall, are expected to recover first and make the strongest targets.