Our Story

We are Joe Chevalier & Kelsey Hammond, a husband and wife team who have always dreamed of owning a bookshop:  a little place where poetry readings, children’s story time, and author readings could thrive in a supportive community.  We believe in the importance of books and their ability to transform the minds and lives of readers, as they have transformed ours.  By supporting our dream, you are continuing to keep Columbia the book-rich community that it is all the while contributing to the cultural life of the city.

What's In A Name?

Why Yellow Dog Bookshop?  Glad you asked!  When we first moved to Columbia in 2006, we made a deal with ourselves that after we got a routine down and felt more settled in our new surroundings, we would adopt a dog.  In March, 2007, we visited the Second Chance Shelter and saw a calm yellow lab mix sitting with her legs crossed among the excitedly barking dogs.  We knew she was the one for us, so we brought the yellow dog home and called her Scout, after one of our favorite characters in literature. She’s our wonderful, mellow, yellow dog!

Scout passed away in August 2018 and we miss her so much. We are so happy to have named our bookshop for her (even though she DID like to eat books on occasion!).  

How We Met

We met in 2001 while working at Kepler’s Book & Magazines in the San Francisco Bay Area after not meeting for several years.  Joe first worked there in 1995 and then left for graduate school in August 1999.  Kelsey started working there in November 1999 but left for the summer in 2000… just the time that Joe briefly returned only to leave again by the time Kelsey came back.  We finally worked at the store at the same time in September 2001; we went out on our first date at the end of September, and the rest is history.  We love the idea of raising our kiddos, Sally (11) & Atticus (8), who are already book lovers, to help out in our family-run small business.