Tracking inventory in different storage facilities without creating locations

[CTO_NEST]

We are a NP that sells merchandise to raise money. Shirts, hats, etc.  We keep the inventory in storage facilities and need to track what's in each of those. There are five if we create locations in Square that means adding subscription fees. As if they were separate businesses. They are just storage lockers, not a business location. Creating a 'location' for each in Square would be crazy expensive for us.  

Any thoughts on this? Anyone having this same issue?

[TheRealChipA]

Hello @CTO_NEST 

it sounds like you could just create five new categories. Assign items to each. Then you could just run reports that filter by category. Is there something i don’t know that this wouldn’t work for your purposes?

[CTO_NEST]

I considered that. It may work. Our current categories are pretty straightforward... T-Shirt, Cap, Scarf, etc... Should the main category remain as such (parent) or should the storage facility be the parent category? Thoughts? 

[TheRealChipA · Accepted solution]

@CTO_NEST I don’t think it would matter.  It depends on what is more important to you.  Obviously if you have online sales, you’d want to use your existing categories for a more logical grouping to present to customers.  Any other categories assigned to your items are used for reporting, or a different grouping.  As an example from my ice cream shop, I have three main/reporting categories — Frozen Treats, Beverages and Vegan Frozen Treats.  But for my online store, those same items are grouped in categories like Soft Serve Cups & Cones, Frozen Beverages, Sundaes & Snowstoms, Other Frozen Treats, etc.