By Tamara Anne Fowler | CNA Media Team

Travel down a whimsical dirt path surrounded by lush greenery and you will arrive at Melville books, a charming new addition to Alberta Street.

Mitchell Melville is the owner, and he has never owned a bookstore before; however, “I have been scouting books for about 10 years and selling online as well,” he said.

After making the decision to open a bookstore, Mitchell began attending as many library, estate and garage sales as possible to build a collection. He still goes out and buys at least four days a week before opening the shop. Open hours are noon to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.

The store boasts about 4,000 titles in stock, all used. There are roughly 3,500 books inside and another 400-500 outside on carts.

Mitchell received the keys June 1 and the doors opened for a few hours July 21. Melville Books’ first official full day was July 24.

Although he can’t possibly choose what his absolute favorite books are, “‘White Teeth’ by Zadie Smith is one of my all time favorite novels. I try to read a little bit of everything but fiction and science fiction are my favorites.

“I loved the ‘Remembrance of Earth’s Past’ trilogy by Cixin Liu and the ‘Broken Earth’ trilogy by N.K. Jemisin,” Mitchell reported, noting both series are science fiction.

“I love reading science and math nonfiction, but also do some history and biography on occasion.”

He’s currently reading four books: “Little, Big” by John Crowley, “Evicted” by Matthew Desmond, “The Word for World is Forest” by Ursula K. LeGuin and “The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco.

He and partner Isabel live in northwest Portland, and they are hoping to move to the eastside within five or six months. Their goal is to be somewhere close to the shop.

Isabel is originally from New York City and doesn’t have a driver’s license. “She never needed one,” Mitchell pointed out. “So we are looking for an area within walking distance of a good grocery store and with good public transit accessibility.”

Currently, Mitchell rides his bike to the store, which takes about 30 minutes. “In September, I started making an effort to ride here at least once a week, and I hope to be commuting via bike nearly every day before too long.

But the ride isn’t without challenges. “It’s hard when I have to schlep a bunch of books around on the bike.”

Tamara Anne Fowler is Edit Kitten, a writer with 20-plus years of experience offering a sof ter, gentler approach to editing and coaching. Her personal editors — Armani, Max Factor and Spicey’D — are also her cats. Visit her at EditKitten.com or contact her at Tamara@EditKitten.com.

By Carrie Wenninger | CNA Media Team

Chelsea Llewellyn-Swanda is unzipping her parka-style jacket on a chilly October morning, about to sit down for a cup of coffee in the Kennedy School cafe, when a woman oohs adoringly over the bluetinged faux fur lining the hood.

Chelsea’s face brightens. “Thank you!” It’s a fitting exchange. Chelsea owns Give & Take Resale in Kenton and will open sister store Take It or Leave It, at 5012 N.E. 42nd Ave., in November.

She began her consignment career at Sweet Pea’s in Sellwood, then learned the ropes from the “Godmother of Consignment” herself, Marcee Meijer, at Village Merchants.

Realizing she’d found her passion, the next obvious step was to open a place of her own.

Having opened in 2012, Give & Take is a much-loved and eclectic mix of trinkets, clothing, home goods, kitchenwares, toys, games and kitsch. Take It or Leave It will riff on the same successful formula.

While it was not necessarily her plan to open a second shop, Concordia resident Chelsea was looking to keep her shop manager and stylist topped up with work. Expanding made sense, as they had experienced a profitable year.

“The timing looked right, so we moved on it,” she said.

Through coverage in Concordia News, she became aware of Michael DeMarco and Our 42nd Avenue, and she reached out.

“They’ve been so kind and have really helped us build connections. It’s been very much a hand-holding experience, and we’ve been so supported. I’m grateful.

“We also received funds from an anonymous donor through Our 42nd Avenue, which helped with the transition from rough space to finished store.”

Having a husband in the construction business has helped tremendously, too, and David Swanda of Greylock Construction has spent evenings and weekends readying the space.

With a penchant for baskets, crockery and quirky stuff, Chelsea said she also enjoys bringing a sense of humor to her offerings. “I do kind of live for the oddities,” she laughed.

She recalled a few of those – a taxidermy squirrel, an anatomical teeth model for dental students and a record by Billy Joel’s heavy metal band, Attila, circa 1970.

“Consignment is a community business. It’s a place to find new treasures and a way to keep useful things out of the landfill. It’s also good, affordable fun,” Chelsea pointed out.

“And, at the end of the day, I am proud to be able to make a living from recycling.”

Find her at the new storefront or online at TakeItOrLeaveItPDX.com.

Carrie Wenninger lives on 29th Avenue in Concordia. She is a freelance writer, a mom, a world traveler and a small business marketing consultant. Contact her at WurdGurl@gmail.com.

By Garlynn Woodsong | Video Game Enthusiast

It’s no coincidence the acronym for Retro Game Bar is RGB. It describes the red, green and blue connection cables between the collection of vintage gaming consoles and their monitors.

Owners Jason and Shira Yovu opened the bar in May at 6720 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Since then gamers have flocked there to enjoy the collection of 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s cartridges and discs that play on 19 consoles.

“We had to buy more consoles, monitors and equipment to open RGB, and also more games for systems like the Dream Cast that didn’t feature prominently in my personal collection,” Jason explained.

Although the form of entertainment at RGB is relatively rare, he’s no newcomer to food service. This is the fourth establishment in which he’s been involved with startup. One was in Maine, where Jason and Shira met almost 10 years ago.

RGB features the games Jason has collected for more than 15 years. “I wanted the games in my collection to be played, not sitting around collecting dust, to have these games be accessible to everyone,” he said.

During the summer, RGB sponsored special weekend hours for minors. “As of mid-October, our all-ages program is on hiatus,” Shira said. “But we hope to redesign it with more options and bring it back by early 2020.”

One of the pleasures for RGB visitors is the opportunity to play on classic systems like the Turbo Graphics 16 from the late 1980s – far less common than its contemporary, the original SEGA Genesis and Super Nintendo systems – as well as a few machines such as a Neo-Geo that were previously coinoperated.

RGB features all original hardware and games, no emulators or replicators. It gives the authentic feel, like a record shop, of using the actual original media. RGB signals are the preferred output from the consoles to the monitors, of course, along with analogue outputs.

“We had to modify some consoles slightly,” Jason pointed out. “That allows them to send the RGB signals for their original full resolution to be displayed on monitors that are much higher resolution than the TVs most people originally played the consoles on.”

RGB serves fare as nostalgic as its games, including themed cocktails and a variety of hot dogs.

Garlynn Woodsong lives on 29th Avenue, serves on the CNA board and is an avid bicyclist. He also is a dad who is passionate about the city his son will inherit. He is the planning + development partner with Cascadia Partners LLC, a local urban planning firm. Contact him at LandUse@ConcordiaPDX.org.