"When the weather outside is frightful, you'll find these 19 cozy places so delightful!" Travel Iowa noted in recommending several indie bookstores, including:
The Book Vault, Oskaloosa: "Cozy up in a corner with a classic novel from the Book Vault, a bank gone bookstore in the heart of Oskaloosa. This historic downtown building keeps hundreds of books in some of the old bank vaults."
Plot Twist Bookstore, Ankeny: "This book store has an events calendar to keep you out of the cold all winter long with ornament making or book signings."
The Book Vine, Cherokee: "[Y]ou can sip on fine wine while browsing the book selection. The tin roof, fireplace and tall bookcases with sliding ladders add to the cozy atmosphere."
Book Vault manager April Gorski told the Oskaloosa Herald: "We are a cozy store. I imagine there's a lot of other nice stores, but we like to think that we're pretty special, so this is kind of a feather in our cap.... You come in and just have a feeling that you stepped back in time, and being surrounded by books and the other eclectic things that we put here just add to that. We're not trying to be too hip and too cool and too loud. We're just ourselves."