The Corner Store

The Corner Store achieves what “Cheers”, Central Perk in “Friends” and any other sitcom tries to tell you about a community: Here, we know you and your mother (and your orders).

Here, we’re family.

Owner Peggy Lindquist managed to make that reality when she purchased The Corner Store 15 years ago, transforming the small 73-year-old former market into a sandwich, coffee, candy, art gallery, toy extravaganza shop off of 37th street.

It’s why they don’t advertise, according to Lindquist, who knows that describing it as a coffee shop is the death of what The Corner Store actually is. It’s a place for community.

And the kids of the community want to run in to buy gummies and Cheetos, while the adults sit in the Corner of Curmudgeons-affectionately named after its frequent grumpy elder visitors- to have lunch while others sit with a coffee in one hand at the long, mix-matched wooden table with placards honoring veteran Corner Store goers.

“I wanted to turn it into a place where I grew up,” Lindquist said.

Originally from Berkeley, Lindquist recalled her own childhood corner store, where she bought her first stuffed animal and saved her pennies to purchase bazooka bubble gum.

Lindquist, who worked as a director of park foods at Knott’s Berry Farm, called herself the phantom wife, neighbor and and friend, sometimes logging over 100 hours at work. When the opportunity presented itself, Lindquist and her husband Bruce proudly became the eighth owners of the historic market.

Large stuffed animals stand on racks of candy-an ode to Lindquist’s fond memories. Signs of The Corner Store’s many iterations, including Joe’s Market, hang on the walls.

But with all of The Corner Store’s nods to the past, Lindquist lives and works for the present.

The same racks of candy hold locally made items: beaded necklaces with silver hearts and seashell art. The same walls that have vintage signs and a framed flyer of The Corner Store’s opening in 1947, then called Ideal Palisades, also hang paintings created by local artists available for purchase.

Beyond the goods are the people of The Corner Store.

“I wanted to hire the neighborhood kids,” Lindquist said. “What a great opportunity I have to do that.”

Her youthful staff are friendly, chatting with customers and each other throughout their shifts. In the front of the store, The Rumble perform original songs and covers as they have for the past two years here on Saturday afternoons.

In between sets, the South Bay natives of The Rumble take turns telling stories of Pedro history and admiring Lindquist’s character. The store, which grows loud with laughter, chatter and the strums of a guitar, is like an orchestra to Lindquist’s ears.

“This is the epitome of San Pedro community,” Lindquist said.