A small shop earns familiarity one remembered preference at a time.

Familiarity is not built by a single grand gesture. It accumulates: the coffee started before you ask, the size they know you take, the loaf held back on a Friday. Each remembered preference is small enough to seem like nothing, and together they make the difference between a transaction and being known somewhere. That is most of what people mean when they say they miss a place.

If a shop near you does this, let them know you noticed, and remember something back. Learning one name behind a counter changes the character of an errand you were going to run anyway.