Residents of all ages in a small Michigan community formed a human chain and helped a local bookshop move each of its 9,100 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, passing each title from the former location of Serendipity Books directly to the correct shelves in the new building, down the block and around the corner on Main Street. The endeavor took just under two hours, much shorter than hiring a moving company to box and unbox the thousands of titles. The brigade even put the books back on the shelves in alphabetical order. The store’s owner, Michelle Tuplin, said the event was a way for everybody to have a part. “As people passed the books along, they said, ‘I haven’t read this one,’ and “that’s a good one.’” Tuplin said she hopes to have the new location open within two weeks.
