Dexter adds a new cafe to its small and soon-to-be livelier downtown

With downtowns desiring to fill vacancies with active businesses that attract a steady stream of patrons, rather than, say, banks and offices that go dark in the evening, downtown Dexter's sole coffee shop is one of those "third places" where community apart from work and home life happens in this village of about 3,300 residents.

Rachel Shelley, who opened Joe and Rosie Coffee and Tea last November at 8074 Main Street, at the corner of Main and Broad, aims to bring a bit of the community together. In time for spring, she plans to stay open later in the evening, bring in live music and host poetry slams, and add outdoor seating. Shelley, who hails from England, plans on starting traditional English cream tea service soon. Also on the menu and not easily found elsewhere are flapjacks – crunchy bars of oats, brown sugar, butter, and golden syrup.

Joe and Rosie's is popular with cyclists, who rack their bikes outside, she says. And the shop will probably keep the lights on for 24 hours during the Cancer Relay For Life, the village's 24-hour walkathon taking place on May 14-15.

Since moving in Shelley hasn't made any significant alterations, preferring to keep the shop's Victorian-period architecture intact. "It's what people like. It's why they keep coming back," she says. "I want to keep it old-looking, in keeping, I think, with Dexter."

No new downtown development projects are in the pipeline, says Allison Bishop, Dexter's manager of community development, but Main Street is keeping an even keel. Of the approximately 22 businesses located downtown, two restaurants recently closed but two new businesses, Modern Vintage and an antique shop called Joyce's Acquisitions, opened the first week in March.

Sources: Rachel Shelley, owner of Joe and Rosie Coffee and Tea; Allison Bishop, manager of community development for the village of Dexter; 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimate
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar