Next Chapter is a used bookshop that hasn’t opened its doors yet. Instead of renting a system like Square, the plan was a counter and a website built for the way a used bookshop works: buying books over the counter, pricing them by condition, turning away the ones it won’t stock, and letting readers know the moment a book they want comes in.
So the website and the till are one system. There is one inventory, and every screen sees a change the moment it happens. The shop’s bar runs on its own register, so a busy evening at the bar never slows the book counter.
Shelve a book at the counter and it appears on the website straight away. Sell, hold or order a copy anywhere and every screen updates. The featured shelf is picked by the people behind the counter, and staff can run a promotion above it, like this month’s Classics month, straight from Settings.
Scan a barcode and the book prints onto the receipt with a short glow, so the cashier sees what went in. Quick keys ring up the bargain cart and unlabeled paperbacks at a set price, and the finished sale is stamped Paid.
Each book lists the actual copies in the store, with their condition, price and photos of the front, back, title page and contents. Every price sits beside what the book costs new, so readers see the saving. A reader can hold a copy for pickup or buy it online.
The menu moves to a tab bar at the bottom, shelves swipe sideways, and book pages put the cover beside the title. Readers can ask for any book, even one the shop has never stocked, and join the waiting list for it.
At closing time staff count the drawer and close the day. The report covers counter and online sales, tax, how people paid, sales by section, the margin on each labelled book, books bought in, and whether the drawer is over or short. It prints on the receipt roll and downloads for the bookkeeper.
Next Chapter Bar is a separate program in the shop’s colors: tabs, rounds, split checks, tips and a close-of-night sheet. It installs on a Windows terminal or a tablet and keeps working when the internet drops. The house beers are named for the shop: Endpaper Lager, Dust Jacket Pils, Inkwell Stout.
Featured books
Shelve a book at the counter and it shows up on the website right away.