The Book Nook: The Independent Bookshop Cafe Turning Pages and Profits with Lightspeed Retail

Turning the Page: The Beginnings of The Book Nook

The Book Nook’s journey is a timeless one. It all started with two friends from university, fueled by long days, late nights, and a dream to do something a little different. After meeting up and exploring their dream of opening their own bookshop, Leanne and Jasmine decided to go for it. After much research and many applications, The Book Nook was born not long after.

Writing a New Chapter in Retail with Lightspeed

The Book Nook is a pretty unique business. Not only is it a book shop but it doubles as a cafe as well which meant Leanne needed to find a point-of-sale system that helped her manage both. “I needed both the capacity to have a big stock catalogue that I could add, update, and edit as quickly and easily as possible, and also a really simple user interface for the cafe,” Leanne said. That’s when she found Lightspeed.

“Everything’s so simple. We’re able to use an iPad and run everything through that. I’ve got friends who own coffee shops and their point-of-sale systems seem so much more complicated than Lightspeed,” Leanne continued. “It’s really easy to customise and it’s super intuitive. Whenever we have to train someone new, I train them to use the ePOS first and they learn it within a day.”

Inventory Innovation

Restocking shelves is a tedious enough task already. But, add on top of that the fact that you sell tens of thousands of second hand books every year, inventory management can feel like an impossible task. That’s where Lightspeed’s integrated inventory management capabilities came in useful for Leanne. “We basically switched from doing individual titles and authors to listing them in categories that had certain price points. When a shipment of new books comes in, it is so easy for us to quickly add them to Lightspeed. We can then print off all the labels in one go, and we’re ready to sell,” Leanne said.

Scripting Success Stories with Lightspeed Capital

The cost-of-living crisis has hit a lot of businesses really hard over the past few years. Rent prices, energy bills, and even the minimum wage have risen recently which has made average monthly costs far higher than previous years which The Book Nook have felt firsthand. Lightspeed Capital was there when The Book Nook needed it most, and they haven’t looked back since.

“Lightspeed Capital allowed us to take out a large lump sum, pay off our debts completely, and get back on track. It solved all of our problems overnight and left me incredibly optimistic about our future”, Leanne said. “Everything was really trustworthy, and the way the application was set out on the webpage was so handy. It literally told me, “if you borrow this, this is how much you'll pay back.” I love that there were no hidden fees or anything like that.”

Traditional loans are often what many turn to when in need of some extra financial support. Sometimes, however, they don’t always work out; which is where flexible financing can become a lifesaver. “I tried to get an overdraft from my bank for a loan of £10,000, and they refused my application. I had absolutely no issues with Capital. I applied, got an answer within like a couple of days, and then a couple of days after that, the money was in my bank. I'm stoked with it. I've not had any issues,” Leanne continued.