Choose Chelsea: spotlight on Serendipity Books

By Lisa Carolin

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One of the positives for many people during the corona virus quarantine is more free time.

Reading is one of the great ways to spend that time, and if you want to shop for books, Michelle Tuplin, owner of Serendipity Books, located at 113 West Middle St. in downtown Chelsea, is offering customers a chance to do just that.

The store is closed for physical browsing, but there are still plenty of ways to shop. To find out if a title is on the shelves, simply call or text the store at 734-475-7148 or email [email protected].

Tuplin will happily search the shelves and pull your selection or offer a curated suggestion.

Tuplin is also posting on Facebook with images of current picks and recording themed Facebook videos with ideas. If Tuplin doesn’t have a book in stock, she can order new books that typically arrive in two days.

Tuplin places orders into a blue lidded tub located under the wooden bench by the store’s back door. She wipes down the box between orders and wears gloves and a mask, something she asks customers to do, too.

For people who don’t want to leave their homes, she suggests shopping at bookshop.org/shop/serendipitybooks. This is a corporation B with the explicit mission of supporting smaller independent bookstores. Affiliate bookstores each have their own virtual storefronts.

She’s been thrilled with the response from the Chelsea community.

“There has been an outpouring of love and support for both the idea of keeping it local and the diversity and individualized experience a community bookstore offers, said Tuplin.

“This is what Chelsea is: A supportive, trustworthy community that looks out for each other and does the right thing. I’ve even found little gifts inside the tote – some seed cake, a novella manuscript, and a bottle of wine.”

Serendipity Books carries non-fiction books with subjects like nature, music, art, cooking, history, self-help, and more, and a big selection of literary fiction and classics. There are also plenty of suspense, action and thriller books, Christian fiction, traditional romance and golden age mysteries. There is also a wide selection of books for kids ranging from board books to young adult selections.

“What better way to take our minds off things than to lose ourselves in a good book,” said Tuplin.

“And of course, our children still need to learn and feel our stability and support more than ever. Snuggling up with your child and a picture book, sharing a family read-aloud, leaving your phone behind and taking a book to bed, these are things we all need right now,” she said.