280 volunteers move an Ottawa bookshop's 7,400 books by hand
The Spaniel’s Tale, a bookshop in Ottawa, moved one block down the street on Saturday. About 280 people formed a line along the pavement and passed its 7,400 books from hand to hand.
13 October 2026
Photo: Gabrielle Huston/CBC
The Spaniel’s Tale opened in Hintonburg, Ottawa, in 2022. This autumn it took a bigger shop a block away on the same street, Wellington Street West.
The book brigade was the customers’ idea, the co-owner, Cole Davidson, told CBC. For years people had been bringing in articles about other bookshops that had moved that way.
On Saturday about 280 of them turned up. From midday until about half past two they stood in two lines between the old shop and the new one, 80 or 90 metres long depending on where you measured from, and passed about 7,400 books along, one at a time, onto the new shelves.
Harry, 12, was in the line. He drew a picture for the shop when it opened, and it still hangs in the children’s section.
It’s really humbling, it’s really such an honour. The community has always been really supportive of us and to see them show up for us today really means a lot.Cole Davidson, to CBC
It also saved the staff’s backs, Davidson said.
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