The whole shop, kept in one quiet book.
Chapter writes your register, stock and payroll into one ledger every night, so the month closes by the 3rd and you stay on the shop floor.
First month free. Brings in up to five years of old books.
Our old bookkeeper needed three weeks and a shoebox. September closed on the 2nd.
Hollis & Vine, Books & Café
Day book
Thursday, October 8
p. 281
Time
Particulars
In
Out
-
8:05 AM
Café counter, morning
71 tickets
486.25
-
10:40 AM
The Salt Road, Imani Hale
6 sold · 4 left
Four left, reorder Friday
173.94
-
12:15 PM
Riverbend Distributors
24 titles received
(318.40)
-
2:30 PM
Payroll, week 41
5 staff, tips pooled
(1,284.00)
-
5:45 PM
Author reading
38 tickets
190.00
-
8:50 PM
Register close, books
44 sales
1,026.35
The day
1,876.54
(1,602.40)
Written from the register, 9:04 PM ET
October to date
$18,442.17
Kept by 1,180 independent shops, from Asheville to Missoula.
- Hollis & Vine
- Second Story
- Marigold Café
- The Lantern Room
- Driftwood Readers
- Common Page
Set it up on a slow Tuesday.
Connect the registers and the payroll account, tell Chapter what is on the shelves, and it starts writing the book the next morning.
-
i.
Connect the registers
Link the books side and the café side of the counter. Chapter reads both from the first night.
-
ii.
Count the shelves once
Bring in your stock list or scan a shelf a day. Every sale after that draws the count down.
-
iii.
Close the month by the 3rd
Chapter matches the deposits, files the payroll and hands your accountant a finished book.
Inventory
It knows when a title is running thin.
Every sale at the register draws down the shelf count, so the reorder list writes itself, espresso beans and oat milk included.
- Days of cover for every title and every café staple
- A Friday reorder list, grouped by distributor
- Consignment and used stock counted on their own
Stock on hand
Oct 8, 9:04 PM
Item
On hand
Sold, 30 days
Cover
-
The Salt Road
Imani Hale Reorder
4
38
3 days -
Winter Orchard
June Castellanos
17
22
23 days -
A Field Guide to Small Rivers
Theo Marsh
9
11
25 days -
House espresso, 5 lb bags
Café
6
29
6 days -
Oat milk, cases of 12
Café
14
36
12 days -
Canvas totes
Gifts
52
9
173 days
Reorder list drafted for Friday: 3 titles, 2 café staples.
We sell a book at a time and a coffee a minute. Chapter is the first book that counts both the same way.
Robin Okafor
Owner, The Lantern Room, Asheville, North Carolina
Sep 2
the day September closed, down from the 24th
Everything else a shop’s book has to hold.
The small, stubborn line items that used to eat a Sunday. Each one keeps its own account, where your accountant expects to find it.
- Sales tax by county 3,143 counties
- Rates for every county you sell in, filed on the schedule each state asks for.
- Tip pooling by the hour
- Café tips split by hours worked and paid out with the next payroll run.
- Consignment per consignor
- What you owe local authors and trade-in customers, kept title by title.
- Gift cards and credit to the cent
- Unspent balances carried as a liability, not guessed at in December.
- Readings and events per ticket
- Author nights and book clubs post on their own line, with the wine and the chairs.
- Your accountant’s seat read only
- Invite your CPA to the finished book instead of mailing a box of exports.
Owners who got their Sundays back.
The day book is the first thing I read with my coffee. By the time we unlock the door I know what sold, what’s short, and whether payroll clears.
Casey Lindqvist
Owner, Second Story · Missoula, MT
Our old bookkeeper needed three weeks and a shoebox. September closed on the 2nd.
Morgan Tate
Co-owner, Marigold Café · Tucson, AZ
Tip pooling used to be a spreadsheet I dreaded. Now the baristas see their share on the pay stub, split by the hour.
Avery Nakamura
Manager, Driftwood Readers · Boise, ID
It caught that we were about to reorder a title we still had eleven copies of in the back room.
Jules Baptiste
Buyer, Hollis & Vine · Burlington, VT
My accountant asked what had changed. I sent her a read-only seat instead of an explanation.
Sam Whitaker
Owner, Common Page · Columbus, OH
Priced by the shop, never by the seat.
Every plan keeps the day book, the stock counts and a read-only seat for your accountant.
Plan
What it keeps
Monthly
-
Shelf
For a shop with one register.
One register · up to 6 staff · stock counts · sales tax
$39 per month
-
Counter
Most shops choose this
For a bookstore with a café.
Books and café registers · up to 20 staff · payroll and tip pooling · consignment
$79 per month
-
Two Doors
For owners with a second location.
Two shops, one book · up to 45 staff · reports per location · a named bookkeeper
$149 per month
The first month is free on every plan, and you can change plans from inside the book.
Questions about moving your booksClose October by the 3rd.
Start with this month’s register. Chapter fills in the rest of the year while you open up tomorrow.
