Startups like HomeSuite, an online marketplace that removes the hassle from finding furnished housing, aggregates not just long-term but also short-term inventory, geared toward individuals who might previously have focused their searches on more standard month-to-month property managers.
Hill and quartermaster Mickey Capuano could at least inventory the gear that disappeared: two stoves, two plastic patrol boxes, two E-Z Up shelters, four lanterns and 11 tents.
One Jay-Z song, for example, starts with the New York rapper ticking off his personal inventory: "My gear is right, check/My bucket is low, check/My Rocawear is fittin' incredible". It's a smart deal for Iconix, analysts say, given Jay-Z's uncommon combination of street cred and business savvy.
Nearly every quarter, Radvision pressured Control Tech to buy more gear even as unsold inventories mounted.
The Madison inventory seems geared to undress women in a particular "Mad Men" fantasy, classic stuff that appeals to the stag-film-and-martini-marinated male.
"Many are also sitting on big inventories of gear which they rarely use, from which they're now generating an income in the thousands," notes Englander.
Mr. Gold said he replaced the management (he himself became chief executive of L.A. Gear in 1992), trimmed the inventory and product lines and sharply cut costs.
Each winter, Miller caught it all on camera, and, each fall, he delivered the results to aspirants around North America just as, in anticipation of the coming season, they took inventory of their gear and idly contemplated dry-land training.
The builder's acquisition last year of a rival, the Centex Corporation, was crucial, bolstering its inventory of homes geared for first-time buyers, many of whom seized on the government incentives to become homeowners.
