How it happens5:22Michigan Bookstore Enlistist’s army of volunteers to move 9,100 books to a block
Moving is easy if you get 300 of your closest friends to help.
When serendipity books in Chelsea, Michigan, 9,100 books at the new location of the business had to remove a block, they put together a voluntary “book brigade” to form a human chain and to hand over every book from single sacrifices to its new home.
“We had people from five or six years old to 91. Someone brought their dog. And everyone had a kind of street party when they drove the books by,” said Michelle Tupin, the owner of the business How it happens Host Nil Köksal.
“People sang. They told stories. They checked the books when they join in. You know, there was a lot of excitement when they came into the romance department. It was just so much fun.”
Section for section in alphabetical order
Serendipity books did not do this to save money or work, said Tuplin. In fact, she hired Mover to get the bookshelves the next day.
“We had as many offers as people wanted to help, and we really wanted to be able to include people in a sensible way and also in an integrative way,” she said.
“The community really feels the feeling of the owners of the Serendipity books, as they think with many indie bookstores.”
When she interpreted the call in January, she said she had no idea how many people would ultimately appear and whether they were able to create it.
But she says that so many people have taken into account the call that they did not form one but two human chains, and the whole thing was made in about two hours.
“It was a section according to the section, and so the crazy thing is that the objects really remained in the right section and in alphabetical order,” said Tuplin.
“So for us in the new room there is really no unboxing or surrounding, new to literacy. It is really pretty organized.”
Kaci Friss, 32, who works at Serendipity Books, grew up in Chelsea, a community of around 5,300 inhabitants, 95 kilometers west of Detroit. She said the event reminded her of “how special” the community is.
“People just pay attention to each other,” said Friss. “Wherever you go, you will meet someone you know or know you, and you will ask you about your day.”
The shop will be reopened on April 26 at its new location, which is by chance the independent book trade day.
Tuplin admits that it is a “hard business” to run a bookstore. But she says that people in Chelsea have always appeared for Serendipity books.
“People realize that they want these books in their communities. They know what an independent bookstore in a community means,” she said.
“It means commitment in the community. It means community discussion, access to various books, all of these great things. And people seem to know that if they want it, they have to support the bookshop.”
