The Corner Store on South Broadway St. holds a myriad of memories for members of the Greensburg community, but for Ken and Angie Dilkes, the story is particularly special.
The couple was raised right in that neighborhood, riding their bikes and swimming in the local pool. Whether it was bread and milk or candy and soda, Mary and Betty’s Grocery was the place to get it, Angie Dilkes explained.
Ken and Angie Dilkes began “going steady” in the sixth grade and continued to date through high school.
After graduation in 1974, the two were married and moved into their first home right there on South Broadway, next to Mary and Betty’s Grocery. Across the street was St. John’s Hall, where the Dilkeses held their wedding reception.
Before too long, the neighborhood underwent some changes. Mary and Betty sold their store and the Dilkes’ rented house next to it. The grocery changed names and eventually moved into the former St. John’s Hall, Angie Dilkes explained. This is what became The Corner Store.
Without a home to rent in their home neighborhood, the couple left South Broadway and went on to raise two daughters and later two grandchildren.
Throughout the years since leaving South Broadway, the couple had discussed owning their own business, but the time was not right until recently.
Ken had worked at BCA for 25 years when the factory closed, and he moved on to work in Indianapolis. That job, too, ended, and the time seemed right to embark upon a new plan, Angie explained.
They began browsing through local real estate listings and discovered The Corner Store on the list this spring. In late June, it became Dilkes Corner Store Deli and Catering.
For the couple, it feels as though life has come full circle. They are back in the neighborhood of their youths after 35 years. As Angie walks around the store, she said, she cherishes the memories contained in the building.
“It’s neat to remember how it used to be when we held our wedding reception here,” she said, “the window we stood in front of for the picture of our ‘kiss,’ the place where our wedding cake was as we cut it and where I danced with my Dad on the dance floor.”
Ken reports that not only has it been a blessing to run a business out of such an important part of their history as a couple, but things have been going quite well since the store changed hands.
“It’s really picking up,” he said.
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