A Lower Greenville Institution Celebrates 20 Years

Before you even step into Corner Market or taste its delicious sandwiches or smell its fresh flowers, you’ll first notice the way it looks. Those square-patterned tin ceilings and mosaic tiled floor next to countertops and furniture that’s just about every shade of brown. Maybe you’ll notice the white tiled tabletops too, or the light green Spanish door that connects the flower shop to the deli side. No matter what you’re drawn towards first, immediately clear that this is the product of a single distinct vision, which it was, but not in the way you’d expect.

“I never actually drew up a blueprint for this,” says owner Chuck Cole. “I knew what I wanted to do.”

The market was born in 2005, Cole was fresh off of numerous stints through Europe and trips to New York City and Chicago, absorbing all that he took in and spitting it out onto a nearly 100-year-old building on Lower Greenville and McCommas Boulevard. Cole came from a career in commercial real estate before and an affinity for going to Jimmy’s Food Store for lunch.

His concept for Corner Market was simple: a catch-all deli, flower shop and coffee bar, complete with pastries and a grab-and-go counter, all within walking distance of his East Dallas home. His menu is just as local to the neighborhood as he is, with sandwiches named after the M Streets like the Martel Porobello Mushroom, Marquita Miami Club and McMillan Roast Beef.

“I love bread,” he says. “My first word was ‘mama.’ My second word was ‘bread,’ and my third word was ‘more bread.'”

Upon opening, he tried to bake all his own for the sandwiches, but soon realized just how hard it is to maintain. These days, Corner Market uses bread from local Empire Baking Company, and has doubled the amount of sandwich options since first opening.

They’re as tasty as it gets. We’re partial to the Melrose Chicken Breast or the roast beef specialty sandwich, The Texan. Plus, they’re as easy on the wallet as they are on the stomach, with each sandwich coming in at under $10. In the morning, traditional breakfast options are available until noon, as the espresso and tea bar keeps serving quality at low prices all day (you can get a latte here for under $4). On the roof, Cole’s set up an herb, fruit and flower garden that’s picked from and served downstairs, including blueberries and echinacea flowers.

The taste speaks for itself, buoying Lower Greenville’s smoky daytime haunt through 20 years in business this November. Cole reflected on the shop two decades in, and recalled our last check-in in a 2018 article aptly titled “On a Changing Lower Greenville, a Dallas Deli Classic Hangs on for the Ride.”

Hanging On for the Ride

Back before the pandemic, in the throes of street construction, foot and vehicle traffic slowed to a halt. Business was flagging, and Cole was quick to point out the number of other small businesses that had gone under in Lower Greenville. The article ends on a dicey note, with Cole musing on how long his business might be able to hold out through the construction.

“Well, I have a time limit,” Cole told us. “It’s a lot of work.”

Months after new condominiums were completed next door, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing Cole’s market into yet another corner.

“Maybe this is my signal to stop,” Cole remembers thinking. “Because I figured if I close, I wouldn’t reopen.”

But instead, the obstacles inspired him.

“I’m not gonna stop, especially not gonna stop because of this,” he says. “So instead of closing or cutting back, we stayed open every day.”

Despite his food and flower vendors closing, Cole figured out a way to stay open through the lockdown and into the post-COVID landscape. He says the period “re-energized” him, and is proud to boast that he didn’t have to let anyone go.

That last note seems most important to Cole. Employees at Corner Market describe the team as a family, and Cole certainly seems to feel the same way. One cook named Abel has been at the restaurant for 17 years. Another, Sylvia, was hired 19 years ago. To put it in perspective, he recalls meeting her son as a small child, and eventually bought him his first laptop for school years later. Now, he’s in medical school and several inches taller than Cole.

Speaking of, Sylvia walks by our table while Cole is raving about her. I ask what’s made her stay for so long.

“He’s a really good boss,” she says, before going in for a hug with Cole

“I guess they like it here,” Cole says with a smile. “But it really helps keep everything consistent.”

It’s sweet, yes, but also good business. Corner Market’s popular Morningstar Chicken Salad has been made with the same hands for nearly two decades now, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

Aside from his cooks, Cole maintains a good relationship with his front-of-house employees too.

“The younger ones out front, they’re always coming and going,” he says. “But especially around Christmas time, they all filter back in.”

After 20 years of seeing his vision for his comprehensive marketplace come to fruition, Cole appears to be just as committed as ever. In celebration of the anniversary, he’s treating himself to a new wave of refrigeration gear and will soon add ice cream to the menu. For the formal anniversary, Cole says that he might revert the menu back to the original 2005 prices for a day, and we’ll be stopping by to load up if he does.

“It’s like having children,” he says. “One minute you want to strangle their neck, but most of the time you would just give your life for them. As long as I love it more than I hate it, I’ve got a while.”