State College is largely populated by young people who have been ripped from their comfortable hometown lives and transplanted into a fast-paced academic mecca.

It is no wonder many Penn State students find comfort in developing a downtown routine, becoming regulars at their preferred restaurants, cafés, bars and shops in an effort to make their home away from home seem a little smaller and more familiar.

Ryan Klingensmith, co-owner of Smoke-n-Joes Café, 128 Locust Lane, knows firsthand what it's like to be a café regular. Before taking up partial ownership of the coffee shop, Klingensmith (junior-film) was one of its frequent customers.

"The regulars are here all day, every day, and we love them," he said. "[They're] here so often that they become friends, not just here but outside, so it becomes a really social atmosphere. It's like the Cheers of coffee shops."

He said the majority of the regular customers are smokers.

"[Being smoker-friendly] is definitely our primary niche to bring in regulars," he said.

Steve Huber, co-owner of Yogurt Express, 426 E. College Ave., said he sees nothing but familiar
faces streaming into the store on most days.

"A lot of them think they're the only ones who come in every day," Huber said. "We have people come in two and three times a day. Some people come in during the day and order delivery at night."

Huber said the customers who come in multiple times a day usually order junior or small size yogurts.

"I think some of them get the smaller sizes to limit how much they eat at a time," Huber said.

Other people with more willpower are able to buy a large or a 32-ounce take-home size, and eat only a little at a time, storing the rest in their freezers, he said.

Ashley Flannery (junior-science) and two of her friends, all Yogurt Express regulars, sat outside the Tuesday night.

"There are a lot of choices and toppings," Flannery said.

Eric Miller, manager of the Lion's Den, 118 S. Garner St., finds one of the bottle shop's regulars especially remarkable.

"This one guy comes in, I don't know his real name, but everyone calls him 'the Gov.,' " Miller said.

"The first time he was in here, he said he was the governor of Pennsylvania," doorman Jared Harner said.

"We see him every day, every other day, and he just buys a 12-pack," Miller said. "It has to be Coors Light cans -- he doesn't like bottles."

Miller said the worst part of his job was seeing his favorite regular customers go.

"The bad thing about being here is you like the people, you get to know them and they're gone within a year," he said.

Tristin Sperhac (senior-psychology), an employee at The Cheese Shoppe, 234 E. Calder Way, said many of the shop's regulars are Europeans who can satisfy their favorite vices in the specialty shop.

"We have one woman who will come in and buy a whole box of Ritter Sport [German chocolate bars]," Sperhac said. "Other people will get a wheel of [cheese] they can't find anywhere else."

Sperhac said the coffee and gourmet food shop would not be the same without its frequent customers.

"They make the place what it is," she said.

Bobalicious, 436 E. College Ave., is another business that attracts many of the same characters every day, manager Troy Eap said.

"When they come in, we already know what they want," Eap said.

Dan Park (senior-economics) said he counts himself among the specialty drink shop's regular customers.

"People meet here -- it's a great hang out," Park said. "With a lot of kids, it's kind of like a second home."