Job Title: Associate Buyer - The Travel Agency
Location: New York City, NY
About The Travel Agency: The Travel Agency is a pioneering cannabis dispensary chain in New York City, dedicated to creating a responsible and inclusive cannabis market. With locations in Union Square, Downtown Brooklyn, and Fifth Avenue, we prioritize social justice and community engagement, employing formerly incarcerated individuals and supporting BIPOC-, women-, and LGBTQIA-owned brands. We believe in the power of education and innovation in transforming the cannabis experience.
Position Overview: The Associate Buyer will elevate The Travel Agency's competitive position by buying merchandise to drive sales and profitability and will work closely with existing vendors to curate a distinguished assortment, as well as seek out new and differentiating vendors to satisfy our customer demand. The Associate Buyer will focus on achieving sales, gross margin, turn over and pricing execution in all categories of the business. They will develop and implement strategies by vendor and classification, by analyzing and responding to sales trends.
Key Responsibilities:
Mechandising:
- OTB management
- Responsible for managing the timely placement and maintenance of purchase orders
- Project, recap, and manage receipts and communicate to vendors to ensure company sales plans and inventory targets are met
- Pulls and reviews reporting as well as Identifies opportunities on weekly reports on business/inventory trend, classification and price point analysis.
- Manages and executes weekly merchandise ordering and purchase order management
Inventory management:
- Provides analysis to support the merchandise strategies and assists in product selection based on store KPI's and industry trends
- Monitors industry trends and evaluates competition
- Manages and executes setting up new items in the POS system
- Owns and executes weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual Best/Worst Seller Reviews
- Make purchasing decisions that satisfy customer demand to achieve sales, turn and margin plan.
- Understand competitive marketplace and pursue opportunities that align with company strategy.
Vendor Management:
- Support CEO/Chief Commercial Officer to drive in-season business effectively by influencing seasonal strategies based on current business needs.
- Attend vendor appointments prepared with strategic assortment plans and an understanding of the product to support customer preferences.
- Actively seek assortment-building opportunities in partnership with cross functional partners.
- Partner with CEO/Chief Commercial Officer on in-season changes for classifications and vendors based on sales, margin, and turn forecast.
- Use data analytics to develop pricing strategy and ensure execution is as intended, hitting financial metrics and driving sales and profitability.
Financial Planning:
- Recommends and communicates business opportunities and liabilities during weekly OTB review
- Forecasts sales and inventory, manages turn-based OTB
- Leads the review of departmental topside financial plans
People Partnerships:
- Develops, maintains and manages new and existing vendor relationships
- Partners with digital marketing team to ensure products are accurately added to the e-commerce site
- Work cross functionally with internal and external teams to plan and execute merchandising programs
- Partner with Financial Planning to ensure department-level financial targets support assortment strategy.
- Support the CEO/Chief Commercial Officer in building seasonal strategy components based on targets.
- Provide CEO/Chief Commercial Officer with category, class, and item performance analysis to assist in determining in-season item-level changes to make.
Qualifications:
- Thrives in ambiguity, self-starter, and excels in a fast-paced, start-up environment.
- Strong accountability, multitasking, and independent prioritization.
- Proactive problem solver with creative approaches.
- Strong interpersonal skills; direct yet diplomatic.
- Consistent high performer with a proven track record in achieving objectives within complex organizations.
- Open to new perspectives and adaptive to evolving business practices.
- Proficient in retail math (markup, margin planning, open-to-buy, inventory productivity measures like WOS, T/O, GMROI).
- Excellent organizational skills, attention to detail, and effective communication (verbal and written).
- Advanced proficiency in Excel, MS Word, PowerPoint, Google Workspace; quick to learn POS and inventory systems.
- Experience in a fast-paced, SKU-intensive buying environment.
- 2–5 years as Assistant/Associate Buyer, ideally with a major retailer; cannabis experience preferred.
- Merchandise planning experience is highly valued.
Job Types: Full-time / Exempt / Salaried
Salary: $75K - $95K Depending on experience
Work Location: Hybrid, New York City
Strong preference given to local candidates