Willowpeak Capital Group in Williston, North Dakota helps shops, contractors and stores frame an inventory financing request around a supplier order and the sales that will pay it off, and passes it to funding partners who decide.
At a glance
- Wholesale trade, Williams County, ND
Wholesale trade, Williams County, ND: 143 employer establishments, $155.1 million in annual payroll (CBP 2023)
- Machinery, equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers, Williams County, ND
Machinery, equipment and supplies wholesalers, Williams County, ND: 71 employer establishments, 904 paid employees (CBP 2023)
- Retail trade, Williams County, ND
Retail stores, Williams County, ND: 144 employer establishments, 46 with fewer than five employees (CBP 2023)
Business Loan to Buy Inventory and Slow-Week Payroll: Notes for Williston, ND Restaurant Owners
A restaurant buying food in bulk and covering a slow week has two separate costs. The food order is stock that will be sold; it can be financed as inventory and paid off as the plates go out. The slow-week payroll is a timing gap with nothing to sell behind it, which makes it a working capital or credit line question.
Illustration only, invented figures: a restaurant places a $14,000 bulk order of proteins and dry goods and also faces a $9,500 payroll in a slow week. Financing the order as inventory and drawing the payroll from a credit line keeps the two costs separate, $23,500 in all.
The 2023 County Business Patterns file lists 76 Williams County, ND restaurants and other eating places with paid staff. Kitchen equipment and build-outs are on the restaurant page.
Pre Season Inventory Loans: Tire Machines and Tire Stock
A tire shop buying ahead of the season has a stock problem with a known sell-through: the tires will move over the next few months. Inventory financing fits the tire stock. The tire machine that mounts them is equipment and belongs on equipment financing, with the machine as security and a longer term.
Illustration only, invented figures: a shop orders $36,000 of tire stock and finances it over 6 months at an annual rate of 15%. That comes to about $6,265 a month, $37,591 in total payments and $1,591 in interest.
Williams County, ND counted 43 auto repair and maintenance shops with paid employees in 2023, 40 of them with a ZIP 58801 address (Census County and ZIP Code Business Patterns).
How Does Inventory Financing Work? The Short Version for Williston, ND Contractors
Inventory financing works by lending against stock. The partner looks at the goods, what they cost, how soon they sell and what they would fetch if sold off, and advances a share of that value. As the stock sells or is used on jobs, the inventory loan is repaid from the proceeds.
For a contractor, inventory means materials bought before the job: pipe, fittings, wire, lumber. Those are consumed rather than resold, so the partner leans more on the contract and the payment schedule than on resale. A contractor whose materials are tied to one job may find a business line of credit a closer fit.
Business Loans for Inventory: Signage and Lease Improvements
Signage and lease improvements are not inventory. They stay with the building, and a partner cannot take them back and sell them. A store that wants new stock and a new sign should split the request: inventory financing for the stock, a term loan or a credit line for the sign and the improvements.
Keeping them apart helps the partner price each piece on its own risk. It also keeps the inventory loan short, because it ends when the stock is sold rather than running as long as the sign.
Williams County, ND Wholesalers and Stores Behind an Inventory Request
Wholesale trade had 143 employer establishments in Williams County, ND in 2023, almost exactly the retail count of 144 (County Business Patterns). Within wholesale, machinery, equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers numbered 71, with 904 paid employees; 56 of those were industrial machinery and equipment wholesalers.
Those firms carry parts, pumps, valves and tools that service companies buy before a job, which is the stock an inventory request is built on. On the retail side, the county had 21 building material and garden supply dealers, 22 gasoline stations, 13 clothing and clothing accessories stores and 8 furniture and home furnishings stores with paid employees.
Turning a Supplier Order Into a Williston, ND Inventory Financing Request
A supplier order becomes a request once three things are written down: the order total and what is in it, the date the supplier wants payment, and how many weeks or months the stock takes to sell or be used. A partner prices the financing against that last number.
Bring the supplier invoice or quote, recent inventory reports if the business keeps them, bank statements and the latest tax return. The request form asks for contact details and three ranges; documents come later.
Stock bought ahead of the sale also appears in the article on how repair shops pay for heavy-duty lifts.
By Willowpeak Capital Group ยท Updated
