Hazelgrove Lending Group helps businesses in Redding, CA arrange inventory financing: funding for stock bought ahead of sales, from boutique racks and parts shelves to convenience-store goods. This page explains how inventory financing works, how it differs from factoring and from a line of credit, what floor plan financing means, and what partners review.
| Pays for | Finished goods and parts for resale |
|---|---|
| Usually secured by | The inventory itself |
| Repaid | As the goods sell, on the partner's schedule |
| Fits | Retail, parts counters, fuel and convenience |
| Poor fit for | Slow-moving or custom stock |
| Decided by | The funding partner |
Inventory purchases ahead of demand
A business loan to purchase inventory makes sense when the goods are likely to sell within a time you can predict. A boutique ordering the next season's racks, an auto repair shop stocking common parts, a plumbing and HVAC contractor holding water heaters and condensers, and a gas station filling the shelves inside all buy first and get paid later.
A loan to buy inventory for a boutique illustrates the shape: the order is placed months before the clothes hit the floor, the supplier wants payment on delivery, and the cash comes back over the weeks the stock sells. Financing the order spreads that cost across the selling period instead of draining the account the day the boxes arrive.
Fuel and convenience stock has its own rhythm; our post on gas station funding in Shasta County explains it, and the gas station page adds the county counts.
How inventory financing works
- You show the partner what you plan to buy: a purchase order, supplier invoice or stock list.
- The partner values the goods and decides how much of their cost it will fund. It may fund only part of the cost, not the full retail value.
- The inventory usually secures the financing, often through a lien on that stock.
- You repay over a set term or as the goods sell, depending on the structure the partner offers.
Inventory financing for a small business suits goods that hold their value and sell steadily. Perishable, fashion-sensitive or made-to-order stock is harder to finance, because a partner cannot easily resell it if payments stop.
Inventory financing vs factoring
Factoring sells your unpaid invoices to a third party at a discount; the money comes from sales already made. Inventory money buys goods ahead of their sale. A wholesaler with slow-paying customers might look at factoring; a retailer who needs stock on the shelf looks at inventory financing. We do not arrange factoring, but it is worth knowing the difference when you compare offers.
Stock financing or a revolving line?
A line of credit can also pay for stock, and for a business that reorders constantly it can fit well: draw, sell, repay, repeat. Dedicated inventory financing can fit larger, lumpier purchases, such as a full season's order, where tying up the line would leave nothing for payroll.
Floor plan financing meaning
Floor plan financing is a form of inventory financing used for high-value items that sell one at a time, such as vehicles or large equipment. Every unit carries its own advance, cleared the day that unit is sold. Shasta County had 17 automobile dealer establishments in County Business Patterns 2023, a small group compared with its 618 retail establishments overall.
Where inventory financing fits in Shasta County, CA
Retail trade ranked second among county sectors by employer establishments in 2023, with 618, and 35.6% of them had fewer than five employees. Within that, the county counted 95 gasoline stations, 57 building material and garden supply dealers, 57 health and personal care stores and 53 clothing stores. Repair trades hold stock too: 129 auto repair and maintenance establishments and 68 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors, covered on the auto repair page and the plumbing and HVAC page.
See the Redding, CA page for the wider figures.
How to finance inventory: what partners usually review
- Purchase orders, supplier invoices or a stock list
- Sales history, so the partner can judge how fast the stock turns
- Recent bank statements
- Liens already recorded against the business's assets
- Where the stock is kept and how it is counted
Compare inventory financing with the other structures on the comparison page and read how a request moves.
