Scroll the more than 7,000 small businesses for sale on a statewide website and Frenchy’s Bistro & Wine Bar pops up alongside the flower shops, manufacturers and other companies that are listed like so many used cars.

Like everything else in this down market, they’re going cheap. Frenchy’s owner and chef Andre Angles, who opened his Long Beach restaurant 14 years ago, is asking $250,000 — less than he’d prefer — and may end up financing part of the sale just to get a deal done.

The story is similar statewide. Small businesses are selling for less than they would in better times — if they sell at all.

Sales of businesses in Los Angeles County fell to 3,769 last year, down 32 percent from 2008, according to a report released this month by the California listings website BizBen.com, which also tracks escrow closings. That decline follows a 33 percent plunge in 2008 and a 12 percent drop in 2007. The median selling price for a small business is also down, falling to $230,000 at the end of last year in Los Angeles County from $238,000 at the end of 2008, according to the listings website BizBuySell.com.

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