Every independent game store runs on chaos — handwritten repair tickets, mismatched spreadsheets, and missed customer follow-ups. Press Start was built to change that. Not just another CRUD app, but a full operational backbone for a modern video game retail and repair shop.
The core challenge wasn't building features — it was designing a database schema tight enough to eliminate redundancy, fast enough to handle real-time inventory queries, and flexible enough to scale across multiple store locations without a rewrite.
From trade-in valuation fetched live via external API, to automated email marketing on purchase events, to role-based employee access with full audit trails — every feature was engineered around data integrity first.
The result: a system that cuts manual overhead by centralizing inventory, repairs, CRM, and sales into a single relational model — 12 normalized tables, zero data duplication, and room to grow.
Small game stores juggle multiple disconnected tools: a POS for sales, a separate sheet for repairs, paper logs for trade-ins, and zero visibility into customer history across touchpoints.
This causes pricing errors on trade-ins, delayed repair updates, lost upsell opportunities, and employee bottlenecks — all costing real money every single day.
A single unified platform with a normalized relational database at its core. Every sale, repair, trade-in, and customer interaction is stored once — and linked everywhere it's relevant.
Automated email triggers fire on purchase confirmation. Market-value APIs update trade-in pricing in real time. Role-based access keeps data safe without slowing employees down.
The schema follows strict 3NF normalization. Every entity has a single-column primary key, foreign keys enforce referential integrity, and junction tables handle many-to-many relationships cleanly. The ERD below shows the full relational model.
Full third normal form across all 12 tables — zero data redundancy, single source of truth for every business entity in the system.