Cozy towns rationale -Clintonville, Ohio

You might be wondering what made me think that having a certain combination of retail businesses make a town or neighborhood "cozy". 

I've been asking myself the same question. 

I think what I realized the other day is that the four types of businesses I selected are community-building businesses.  

A yarn shop usually has "open knit" hours and a big table or several couches and chairs to accomodate several Knitters meeting at a specified time.  A knowledgeable shop owner will spend time with the customers to work out difficulties with patterns.  

A bicycle shop may have people hanging out to talk to the mechanics about problems with, or improvement to their bikes.   The shop will typically schedule group rides and give visitors advice on where to ride and any local bike clubs.  They may have workshops on how to repair and maintain your bike.

A bookstore will often sponsor a local book club, or "meet-the-author" events.   They may have a comfy chair where you can hang out and peruse your purchase.   

Finally, a neighborhood coffee shop with seasonal patio dining gives its patrons a place to hang out and people watch.  They may sponsor poetry readings or open mike nights, or even live music.

By the way, all of these photos were posted online by Clintonville, Ohio businesses.  Clintonville is near the Ohio State University, Columbus campus.   

OSU, being a land grant college, has an extensive agricultural and horticultural department.   So,  Ohio Master Gardeners have a "headquarters" here.