For me it's a bit of nostalgia and some magic that other places don't have. As a child there was a bookstore and bindery on our main street that had cats wandering the aisles. Besides the library it was the place I attribute most to nurturing my love of reading. Or in New Orleans there was a bookstore with books precariously stacked throughout and a small box of free books out front. In another one I visited there was a pair of high heels inexplicably sitting on a high shelf behind a register. I asked about them and the woman said she thought the original owner put them there but didn't know for sure. I think they speak to me because each one is like a book to me. Each one is going to have a unique story to tell.