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    BERLIN - This spring, the last shop in the western German village of Thier closed. The little café and bakery was the place people in the town of 1,300 went to buy bread. More importantly, it was also where they could gather and hear the latest town gossip.

"It was a wake-up call," says Thomas Karthaus, who along with a handful of town residents decided to open up a community-owned store to bring back a place where villagers could meet.

   

Read more at Spiegel