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Top Dog is an institution in Berkeley, Calif. serving gourmet sausages on toasted French rolls to legions of Cal students and Bay Area locals for over 50 years. My friends and I were regulars back in college, so when I read of its struggles during the pandemic, I packed the kids in the car for the 45-minute drive to get a bit of comfort food and support the small business.
Perhaps it was the nostalgia of being on campus again. Or maybe it was seeing the empty, boarded-up streets of Telegraph and Durant Avenues. Whatever it was, as we loaded the bags filled with hundreds of hot dogs in my trunk, I realized that I might have overdone it.
I had an inventory problem.
Sustained inflation has compressed consumer spending across categories, resulting in softened sell-through rates and climbing aged inventory ratios. For retailers, brands, and manufacturers, the downstream effects are distinct, but the core problem is the same: the excess inventory is there,…
This well-known athletic retailer had large volumes of aged overstock held at various distribution centers (DCs) around the country. A small group of jobbers purchased the inventory on informal terms, managed by each DC, leading to inconsistent processes and outcomes…