On the street, in a huge line, undeterred by rain, they gathered to pass books.<\/p>\n
Bibliophiles, builders from nearby construction sites, kids with their parents, all stood for hundreds of metres along Bourke Street in Melbourne\u2019s CBD on Thursday morning in a human chain.<\/p>\n
They were there to help the beloved bookshop, Hill of Content, move from its location of more than 100 years to a new home.<\/p>\n
Undeterred by the wintry weather on Thursday morning, 300 people stood in a line passing thousands of books up Bourke Street, from Hill of Content\u2019s old store into the new.<\/p>\n
As rain started falling people pulled out umbrellas and raincoats, with the books wrapped in brown paper.<\/p>\n
Hill of Content is the city\u2019s oldest bookstore, opening in 1922 at 86 Bourke Street. The three-storey heritage-listed building it occupied for 103 years was sold for $5.3m last year<\/a>, with the bookshop\u2019s owners forced to start searching for a new home.<\/p>\n Diana Johnson, who owns Hill of Content with her husband, Duncan Johnson, said the human chain would pass 17,000 books up to the new store.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a fair number of people I know in the line, lots of loyal customers, we are so grateful they have supported us all those years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t possibly close the shop down on our watch. It\u2019s been in Melbourne literacy for over 103 years. So we decided we would continue it on.\u201d<\/p>\n Hundreds of book lovers turned out to help Hill of Content move thousands of books to its new home on Thursday morning. Photograph: Bertin Huynh\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Within an hour, the army of book lovers had already put hundreds of books on the new shelves, Johnson said.<\/p>\n She was inspired to try relocating the store\u2019s inventory with a human chain after a customer told her of a \u201cbook brigade\u201d in the United States that helped move<\/a> Serendipity Books in Michigan to a new location.<\/p>\n \u201cI am just so grateful,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n The new premises at 32 Bourke Street are just metres away from the old, and Hill of Content put out a call on social media earlier this month asking book lovers to help it move.<\/p>\n \u201cMany hands make light work. Join us and see the power of bookish community,\u201d the Instagram post<\/a> read.<\/p>\n On Thursday, literature lovers turned out in force.<\/p>\n Jess, who was standing in line, described it as \u201ca human conveyor belt\u201d.<\/p>\n She admitted she \u201cdidn\u2019t come often\u201d to the old store, but would visit the new one.<\/p>\n A little further up the chain, three young builders had jumped into the line after seeing it happening while on break from work.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were just doing the fit-out work on the building, next minute people lining up, so we thought we\u2019d get down,\u201d Wyatt said.<\/p>\n Standing next to them, Angela joked they were getting \u201cbook fit\u201d as they stood in line.<\/p>\n \u201cThese young men, they don\u2019t really read a lot, I don\u2019t think,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve been giving them some recs.\u201d<\/p>\n