Neighboring Ninth Street bookstores Yellow Dog, Skylark to celebrate August anniversaries

Aarik Danielsen, Columbia Daily Tribune
·2 min read

Columbia's book lovers experience an embarrassment of literary riches traveling one side of Ninth Street. August will yield even more delights as two beloved bookstores, mere doors from each other, will celebrate their anniversaries.

Yellow Dog Bookshop at 8 S. Ninth Street celebrates its ninth birthday Aug. 6, while Skylark Bookshop at 22 S. Ninth Street turns four on Aug. 27.

Opened by the husband-and-wife team of Joe Chevalier and Kelsey Hammond, Yellow Dog is named for Scout, the "yellow lab mix" the couple adopted in 2007, according to the store's website; named for the Harper Lee heroine, Scout died in 2018.

Bailey Martin, a junior at the University of Missouri, browses books while wearing a mask at the Yellow Dog Bookshop.
Bailey Martin, a junior at the University of Missouri, browses books while wearing a mask at the Yellow Dog Bookshop.

The store represents the realization of a dream for Chevalier and Hammond, "a little place where poetry readings, children’s story time, and author readings could thrive in a supportive community," the site notes.

As part of Yellow Dog's celebration, the store will offer a new design in its always artful-front window, "Blind Date Books ... Surprise Book Bags, and a few other fun surprises," according to a Facebook post.

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Opened by novelist and Unbound Book Festival founder Alex George, Skylark offers a wide variety of author events and readings that draw national and local writers. A recent Publishers Weekly article described the relationship between Skylark and Unbound as "symbiotic" and mutually beneficial.

The piece also described steps the store took during the pandemic to maintain its quality and reimagine its offerings. They include hiring a "virtual bookseller" who, among other things, hosts live social-media book talks.

A glimpse inside Skylark Bookshop in 2021.
A glimpse inside Skylark Bookshop in 2021.

"We’re having a lot of fun continuing to think up new ways to promote authors," George told Publishers Weekly. "Bookselling has been the best thing I’ve ever done."

Skylark's celebration will include giveaways to purchasing customers and the presence of "a TON of local authors" who will read, sign and even recommend books, according to a blog post. The store will also debut a new T-shirt.

Learn more about these shops at http://www.yellowdogbookshop.com/ and https://www.skylarkbookshop.com/, respectively.

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. Find him on Twitter @aarikdanielsen.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Neighboring Ninth Street bookstores to celebrate August anniversaries