A Victorian era storefront at 9 Broadway in downtown Troy, New York houses Yellow Lab Vintage and Books, a small shop that pairs a genuinely curated used bookstore with a rotating selection of inexpensive vintage furniture, clothing, and what the shop itself cheerfully calls tchotchkes and doo-dads. The book side of the business leans hard into specific, well loved categories rather than trying to stock a little of everything: art, architecture, and photography titles sit alongside local Troy and Capital Region history, science fiction, literary fiction, philosophy, and a notably deep occult section, plus a selection of rare and collectible volumes for buyers hunting something harder to find than a typical secondhand paperback.
The shop is supplied through a small network of local book and vintage specialists rather than run as a single generalist operation. Craig McElroy of Kingston Consignments and Jessica DuPont of Half Moon Books both contribute inventory, with day to day operations handled by Aster Hemlock, giving the shop a genuinely collaborative, small business feel that regulars have come to appreciate. That structure also explains some of its more distinctive policies: Yellow Lab does not accept consignment and typically does not buy individual books walk in style over the counter. Instead, anyone hoping to sell a personal collection is asked to reach out to Jessica directly by email with photos of the books in question, a slower but more considered process that lets the shop be selective about what actually lands on its shelves.
Because the store is usually staffed by just one person on any given day, Yellow Lab is upfront that its posted hours run more as a guideline than a guarantee. The general schedule runs Thursday from 10 in the morning to 6 in the evening, Friday from noon to 8, Saturday from 9 to 5, and Sunday from 11 to 6, though the shop itself notes candidly that hours are not precise given the realities of a single staffer covering the floor, phone, and register at once. That small scale, one person at a time approach is part of what gives the shop its character rather than a drawback to work around.
Beyond the shelves, Yellow Lab has built a genuine community calendar around its space, hosting a recurring Sapphic Poetry Night on the second Friday of each month, a Silent Reading Hour on the third Thursday, and a Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club that meets on the last Thursday of the month. Those events have turned the store into something closer to a neighborhood living room than a straightforward retail stop, drawing in Troy’s literary and queer community for evenings built around reading and conversation rather than a sales pitch. Dog owners get a warm welcome too, with the shop noting simply that staff will pet your dog, a small detail that fits the overall low key, personal tone of the business.
Located in a city that has seen a genuine renaissance of independent bookstores, antique dealers, and vintage shops along its historic downtown blocks, Yellow Lab Vintage and Books stands out even in that company for the specificity of its book curation and the intimacy of a shop that runs on one person’s attention at a time. Reachable by phone at 518-203-7111 or by email for book inquiries, the shop rewards browsers willing to work around its flexible hours with a stock of furniture, clothing, and carefully chosen books unlikely to be duplicated anywhere else in the Capital Region. Yellow Lab Vintage and Books is, at its core, a one person, deeply curated bookstore and vintage shop in downtown Troy built around genre depth, community events, and a welcoming attitude toward both readers and their dogs.
