Last fall, Michael Solis moved to Rochester to accept the position of executive director at Writers & Books, a literary arts nonprofit and independent bookstore. Located in the Neighborhood of the Arts, the team there has been bringing readers and writers together for almost fifty years. “It just felt like the right fit,” says Solis. …

I visited Peppermint Boutique on a sunny, cloudless afternoon. The store’s owner, local entrepreneur Tanvi Asher, and I sat outside at a red picnic table shaded by a leafy oak tree across from Cobb’s Hill Park. We were joined by Ginger, an enthusiastic if not slightly overeager apricot cavapoo, who is Asher’s constant companion and …