When Retailers Can't Move the Goods
There's an operational layer underneath consumer credit that most analysts never see: what actually happens to retail inventory when it doesn't sell, when a retailer goes bankrupt, or when a brand orders too much for the wrong season. Someone has to move those goods, and how efficiently they get moved determines recovery values in bankruptcy, margin protection for healthy brands, and signals about where retailers are headed next.
In this episode of Consumer Credit Matters, Will Black sits down with Alex Hennick, founder of AD Hennick & Associates, a Toronto-based firm that operates globally across the inventory business, from bidding on distressed assets in retail bankruptcies to clearing excess inventory for successful brands without damaging their pricing or channel relationships. Alex shares a case study of liquidating a 50,000 square foot Toronto barbecue store in a single week, walks through the mechanics of brand protection in inventory management, and offers a candid view from the front lines on tariffs, the COVID over-ordering hangover, and the structural decline of mall retail.
Will and Alex cover how retail inventory liquidation actually works, including the bid process, the time pressure of standing leases, and what drives recoveries. They go inside the quieter but larger business of inventory management for healthy brands, where channel restrictions and brand protection often matter more than price, and where some manufacturers would rather destroy product than sell it into the wrong market. Alex shares what he is seeing on the front lines right now: tariffs compressing margins overnight, consumers trading down to discount and secondary channels, the COVID-era over-ordering hangover still working through the system, and the structural decline of mall retail, with Eddie Bauer, Off Fifth, and Beyond the Rack as case studies.
Alex Hennick is the founder of AD Hennick & Associates, which he launched 17 years ago. From a Toronto base, the firm operates globally on both sides of the inventory business, bidding on distressed assets from bankrupt retailers and manufacturers, and partnering with successful brands on excess inventory, canceled orders, and close-dated product. With proprietary warehousing, an 80,000-person buyer network, and auction infrastructure, AD Hennick clears goods quickly while protecting brand value and channel relationships.
For institutional investors in consumer ABS, retail credit, and trade finance, this is a side of the ecosystem you rarely hear from directly, and a leading indicator of what eventually shows up in recovery rates, charge-off curves, and retailer bankruptcies.
Consumer Credit Matters is hosted by Will Black, founder of Black Analytics LLC and a 25+ year veteran of consumer structured finance. CCM brings institutional-quality analysis and practitioner perspectives to the consumer credit and structured finance community.
Subscribe to the Consumer Credit Matters LinkedIn newsletter for written analysis and episode recaps: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/consumer-credit-matters-7034965118010413056/
