In Pembroke Pines, not far from Fort Lauderdale, a slow but steady stream of customers comes through the door at the Florida Blue store: retirees, the self-employed, small business owners, young people just starting their careers.

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But its location within the atmospheric old part of the city gives it a special vibrancy (if sometimes a little too much: The building closest to the fort has strong barnyard aromas from a neighbor's livestock, and the calls to prayer at the mosque next door are the reason earplugs are left on your side table at night).

FORBES: Photograph: Andre Fanthome (RAAS)