Chelsea, Michigan: Residents of all ages in a small Michigan community formed a human chain and helped a local bookshop move each of its 9100 books – one by one – to a new storefront about a block away.
The “book brigade” of around 300 people stood in two lines running along a sidewalk in downtown Chelsea on Sunday, passing each title from Serendipity Books’ former location directly to the correct shelves in the new building, down the block and around the corner on Main Street.
“It was a practical way to move the books, but it also was a way for everybody to have a part,” Michelle Tuplin, the shop owner, said. “As people passed the books along, they said ‘I have not read this’ and ‘that’s a good one.’”
Momentum had been building since Tuplin announced the move in January.
“It became so buzzy in town. So many people wanted to help,” she said.
In this photo provided by Burrill Strong, supporters of Serendipity Books help move the entire shop stock to a new premises a block away in Chelsea, Michigan.Credit: AP
Tuplin said the endeavour took just under two hours – much shorter than hiring a removalist to box and unbox the thousands of titles. The brigade even put the books back on the shelves in alphabetical order.
Now Tuplin hopes to have the new location open within two weeks.
The bookstore has been in Chelsea, about 95 kilometres west of Detroit, since 1997. Tuplin has been the owner since 2017 and has three part-time employees.
