What Happens When A Coin Shop Closes For Good

Do coin shop owners own their coins outright, or is there a (bank) loan attached to the inventory?

A smart and successful Bricks and Mortar operator usually owns their inventory
and has substantial capital to operate it .
These are becoming fewer and fewer !
I closed my shop in 1997 , went on line in 2000 and have
never looked back ! Would not even dream of opening a shop in these VERY
uncertain times .
One drawback to being online and no shows .... the ability to buy in what is a
very strong coin market at present .

It would depend entirely on the circumstances of the closure.

Some coin dealers attempt to sell their business as a going concern, so any sale would likely include inventory.

Some dealers sell their shopfront location to another dealer along with some of the business assets (phone numbers, website, customer lists etc) but retain most of their stock.

Some coin dealers decide to close their B&M shop front but continue dealing online, in which case the dealer retains their trading name and their stock and continues to sell (though perhaps does not acquire new stock at the same rate).

If a coin dealer has carefully planned their retirement, they can wind the business up gradually and orderly, perhaps running a "closing down sale" to get rid of remaining stock in the last days.

Some coin dealers close up shop suddenly (all too often, because the owner has either passed away or suffered serious health problems and forced into sudden retirement) and they have to fire-sale their remaining stock, either by dumping them on their competitors or by going through auction houses. A large inventory (let's say it's the biggest coin shop in town that's closed down) would probably be spread out to multiple buyers.

Ideally, a coin dealer shouldn't have too much stuff just sitting around waiting to be sold. Inventory sitting on the shelf isn't earning the dealer any money. In practice, this is usually easier said than done.