The Totally Awesome Corner Store

Where my office has relocated to is a suburb that is largely small apartment buildings and private homes, with a sort of middle to lower income and multi-ethnic mix. The main shopping strip which is a 5 minute walk down the street, has a Korean video store, a shop called "Little Persia" and a Greek cafe, as well as the usual "Cheescake Shop", KFC and other fast food chains. What it is short on is a convenience store or deli.

Or so I thought, until I changed my walking route this morning and discovered the Totally Awesome Corner Store just a few small blocks from here. It's like a treasure trove of delights, the likes of which I haven't seen since the visits I made to John Martin's department store "Magic Cave" as a child, or whatched vintage "Ali Baba" films.

On entry to the Totally Awesome Corner Store one is assaulted by a bunch of stimuli. The heady blend includes:

1. loud (but not unpleasant) Turkish music
   
2. the smell of very strong (and probably very good) coffee
   
3. a large and extremely well groomed man behind the counter, with a king's ransom of gold jewellery on and a big friendly smile
   
4. a gushing fountain/grotto/water feature (inside!)
   
5. a mirrored mural complete with hookah pipes and camels
   
6. a large table piled high with all sorts of exotica - unusual candied things, fantastical looking spicy snacks, bags of things that look like dried carrot strips and cartons of biscuits with indecipherable names and sand dune graphics

Past that there are Mars Bars and tins of beans, like all corner stores, but my oh my those chocolate bars and everyday comestibles take on an exotic glamour! Second impressions include the fact that the store is really well organised and scrupulously clean. Quite obviously not just a source of income, but a source of pride as well.

I think I'm in love.