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Community Corner

I Just Need to Run Down to the Corner Store for Something…

A great way to unplug, gear down and get away.

Some mornings you just need to steal away and go somewhere without combing your hair even. Somewhere where no one will judge you for that. Where you can get a good cheese omelet and read the paper.

We know just the spot. The Corner Store of Coventry on South Street is warm, welcoming and unobtrusive. You can sit at the counter, laugh at the goofy photos on the wall, schmooze with the staff, and read that paperback you can’t put down, without any interruptions. 

The built-in bonus of coming to the Corner Store, which the locals with longevity remember as the One Stop, is that, no matter how you get there, you’re likely to pass something scenic – a horse farm, a blue heron on the dam, joggers out exercising their dogs. Any way you approach it, Coventry is a beautiful town.

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Once inside, the Corner Store has an array of coffees and flavorings, a grill for making breakfast – and for flame-broiled burgers and sandwiches as the day wears on. “We have fresh meat from a market,” worker Joe Reyes says proudly. (Make a note: In the summertime you can sit outside at a picnic table and nurse an ice cream cone made with one of the store’s own 72 flavors.)

“I get service with a smile EVERY time and the staff seams to really enjoy being there,” one person writes on the store’s Facebook page. “I would go there more if they … took credit cards (or sold beer).” Yes, the Corner Store is cash only, but they have added an ATM to put even more convenience into their convenience store.

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It’s a great place for hanging out. Sit at the counter or at one of the tables hidden in the back and enjoy co-owner and cook Debbie Arnold's piping hot breakfast, delivered with an eye toward presentation.

Pop for that lotto ticket you never allow yourself. Who knows? Maybe you’ll win, and baby can have those brand new shoes and you can get the red Ferrari. A girl can dream. The store also offers an array of simple items to pick up on the way home – paper plates, pasta fixings, retro ’60s and ’70s candies and even engine oil or degreaser.

So, stealing away to the Corner Store is never a wasted trip or one without an alibi. And, if you’re a person who can’t ever fully escape the guilt, grab a hot chocolate to go for the kid you left at home.

The Corner Store of Coventry is at 1428 South St., between Forest and Echo roads. For information, check out the store page on Facebook or call 860-742-9504.

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