Specialty Buyer

About Lovestruck Books & Cafe

Lovestruck Books & Cafe is a vibrant community hub in the heart of Harvard Square where the love of literature meets the art of hospitality. As a romance-focused independent bookstore, we are a space grounded in inclusivity, joy, and connection. We celebrate love in all its forms, offering a welcoming, highly curated retail experience and a dynamic, celebrated events program that connects readers with their favorite authors and a passionate community.

Role Snapshot

The Specialty Buyer manages book, merchandise, and sidelines purchasing, inventory strategy, and vendor relationships for Lovestruck's non-store revenue channels, including onsite and offsite events, B2B and bulk sales, drop-shipping orders, subscription boxes, special partnerships, and emerging sales opportunities.

Reporting directly to the Chief Brand Officer as part of the Events & Marketing team, this role operates at the intersection of inventory management, fulfillment, and business development. The Specialty Buyer builds and refines scalable systems that source the right products at strong margins, deliver excellent customer service, and support sustainable growth beyond the physical store.

Key Responsibilities

Buying & Inventory Strategy

• Source, negotiate, and order books, merchandise, and sidelines for onsite and offsite events, corporate and bulk sales, subscription boxes, drop-shipping orders, and special partnerships.
• Forecast demand and manage stock levels to meet program needs while protecting warehouse and backroom capacity and avoiding unnecessary overstock.
• Negotiate with publishers, wholesalers, and other vendors to maximize profitability through returnability, discount tiers, co-op support, freight terms, and other favorable arrangements.
• Maintain rigorous tracking of ISBNs, formats and editions, publication dates, and embargo requirements across all specialty programs.
• Monitor sales, sell-through, stock movement, and margin performance by channel; use findings to improve future buying decisions and inventory turnover.

Program & Fulfillment Operations

• Manage fulfillment logistics and drop-shipping workflows with internal teams and external partners, ensuring accurate, timely delivery and clear communication throughout each order.
• Create, curate, and schedule title deliveries for recurring subscription boxes, specialized book clubs, and other programmed sales channels.
• Coordinate digital fulfillment platforms, freight shipments, pallets, multi-location staging, and firm delivery deadlines for offsite events, festivals, and bulk orders.
• Ensure excellent end-to-end service throughout quoting, purchasing, fulfillment, delivery, and post-order follow-through.
• Build, document, and improve repeatable workflows, checklists, and administrative systems that allow specialty sales programs to scale reliably.

B2B Sales & Growth

• Lead the B2B and corporate sales process, including curated title lists, fast and accurate quotes, marketing materials, customer communication, and order execution.
• Prepare wholesale and corporate quotes, custom invoice terms, and tax-exempt purchasing workflows for schools, nonprofits, corporate clients, and other partners.
• Track, analyze, and report sales, sell-through, and profit margins for each external sales channel; develop quarterly projections and communicate performance clearly to leadership.
• Identify and evaluate new partnerships, programs, and revenue opportunities that align with Lovestruck's brand, customer experience, and profitability goals.

Cross-Departmental Coordination

• Partner with the Events Manager to forecast and secure stock for on-and-offsite author and community events.
• Coordinate closely with receiving, marketing, leadership, and store teams so that product information, delivery timing, and fulfillment responsibilities remain aligned.
• Manage multiple concurrent projects through timely, proactive communication across email, phone, and internal chat channels.

What You'll Bring

• 2-3 years of book buying experience, ideally supporting nontraditional sales channels such as B2B, events, subscriptions, or drop-shipping.
• Experience in inventory management, publishing, or high-volume purchasing, with a track record of managing complex supplier relationships and lean inventory turnover; 3-5+ years is a plus.
• Experience in sales, marketing, business development, or bottom-line revenue responsibility, with the ability to balance customer experience, operational feasibility, and margin health.
• Proficiency with POS and inventory platforms such as Bookmanager; publisher ordering portals such as Edelweiss and Ingram; and shipping or fulfillment tools such as Pirate Ship.
• Strong knowledge of publisher discount structures, returnability, co-op advertising funds, freight terms, and bulk-tier break points, supported by effective negotiation skills.
• Established relationships with sales representatives across major publishing houses and independent distributors are strongly preferred.
• Advanced Excel or Google Sheets skills, including lookup formulas, pivot tables, and forecasting models, with the ability to analyze margin, sell-through, stock movement, prepublication data, bestseller trends, subgenres, and media buzz.
• Excellent logistical foresight and project management skills, including experience coordinating freight, multi-location staging, and strict delivery deadlines.
• Exceptional attention to detail and the ability to build, maintain, and follow complex checklists and administrative systems while managing multiple moving priorities.
• Experience with basic receipt tracking, expense reconciliation, invoicing details, and accurate order documentation.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain strong relationships with publishers, sales representatives, corporate clients, community partners, and external vendors while representing Lovestruck with professionalism and warmth.
• Experience partnering with events and marketing teams to turn buying opportunities into coordinated promotions, client materials, and revenue-generating programs with clear timelines and ownership.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to manage multiple external and internal stakeholders proactively across email, phone, meetings, and internal chat.
• A genuine love of books, community, and creating thoughtful, delightful customer experiences.