Volunteers bring ‘Serendipity’ to bookstore move

Michelle Tuplin doesn’t know how the dancing got started. Tuplin, who owns Serendipity Books in Chelsea, Michigan, just needed to move her store to a new location around the corner. She wanted to get the community involved and thought a “book brigade,” for which she would enlist friends and loyal customers to hand carry the contents of the store’s shelves, might work.

“Independent bookstores are so special in a town,” says Tuplin, who moved 30 years ago from Yorkshire, England, to Chelsea (population, 5,500). “People feel a sense of ownership.”

The day of the move — April 13, a Sunday — Tuplin was amazed that 300 volunteers showed. They formed two lines and passed 9,100 volumes, hand to hand, around the corner and down the block to the new store. Music played, and as the locals passed books, some danced, Tuplin says.

The townspeople finished the job in two hours.

The book brigade echoes a spirit of volunteerism that is central to American life. Half of all Americans do volunteer work, the Census Bureau reports. Many, like the 65 percent of firefighters who are local volunteers, help others despite personal risk.

“Every day, countless volunteers strengthen and enrich communities across the country through their selfless service,” President Trump said in a proclamation in honor of National Volunteer Week, April 20–26.

Serendipity Books opened in Chelsea in 1989, and Tuplin has owned the store since 2017. The number and upbeat spirit of the locals who showed up to help exceeded Tuplin’s wildest expectations. “It just kind of morphed into a big street party,” she says.

The event has attracted global attention to the town, which takes its arts and culture seriously. Sculptures decorate the downtown, and locals boast about their homegrown actor, Jeff Daniels, famous for bringing an everyman persona to Broadway stages and Hollywood screens.