And so that happened: On Sunday afternoon, 300-ish people formed a human chain from Porter Square Books in Cambridge’s Porter Square Mall to its soon-to-open replacement location in a Lesley University building some 1,000 feet away, passing along books in a “ceremonial” stocking of the new shelves.
Organizers could not have asked for a better crisp, blue, New England fall day. The chain formed just as the annual Honk! parade finished passing through on its way to Oktoberfest in Harvard Square.
Beside staffers, participants were volunteers and supporters of the store.
“People think of it as ‘my bookstore,’ so an event like this is really fun way to validate that sense of ownership, by letting people participate in the most hands-on way possible in the move,” said Josh Cook, one of roughly 10 longtime employees who have become co-owners of the shop.
Bella Miller, a lawyer who lives in the area, came to the mall parking lot to help. “I think it’s a really cool way to involve the community. I’ve been a longtime fan of the store and I can’t wait to see the new place, though I’m going to miss this place,” Miller said.
At 1 p.m., co-owner David Sandberg came out to address the crowd and explain the importance of safety and ensuring access to shoppers and others using the mall. Passed books would be amassed at two points – the entryway to the mall and crosswalk at Somerville Avenue – to be loaded onto a book truck or trolley cart and ported across the intersection when it was safe.
The books chosen for the event were for the romance section, and the first to arrive at the new locale was “It Happened One Summer” by Tessa Bailey.
The event drew folks from near and wide, with numbers possibly getting a boost from the weekend’s Honk! Festival of Activist Street Bands. Alex, a property manager from the suburbs who declined to give a last name, said he’d heard about the book event from a friend. “I didn’t have much to do today, and since the Patriots stink, I thought a book relay could be pretty fun, so I am here.” As volunteers passed along books, several curious onlookers stepped forward to ask what was going on.
Participants had an additional reward: Sandberg told volunteers they could rifle through the store’s advance reader copies and pick out a book that interests them.
On Tuesday a regular moving service will relocate the rest of the books. Left behind at the plaza locale is Cafe Zing; at the new store will be Page & Leaf Cafe, which will be run by Jennifer Park and Tucker Lewis, founders of Somerville’s Diesel Cafe, Bloc Cafe and Forge Baking Co. & Ice Cream, with their chief executive and new partner in the venture, Courtney Verhaalen.
Its side of the new Porter Square Books is roughly where Bourbon Coffee served until 2021, with the rest of the store filling a Webster Bank that closed the same year. The combined businesses have around 40 percent more space than the current site, which is expected to stop selling books Monday.
“It’s great Porter Square Books is moving because they feel cramped in here, and it’s exciting that Cafe Zing is expanding,” Davis Square resident Monica Holland said.
What happens with Cafe Zing and the remaining store space hasn’t been announced.
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