A new beginning: Corner Market set to open May 23

The buyers of a beloved former local business are working diligently to prepare the site for their new venture, which they plan to open the Thursday before Memorial Day under a new name that pays homage to the original.

The former Vegetable Corner, at Harpswell Neck and Mountain roads in Harpswell, is set to be reborn on May 23 as a seasonal market, bakery and cafe called Corner Market, with the goal of eventually making it a year-round business.

Married couple and part-time Harpswell residents Katie Rollins and Joe Cheuvront, also of Brooklyn, New York, closed on the property on Oct. 24, 2023. Rollins has a background in finance and investment, while Cheuvront is a professional chef.

They envision a business that would be similar in many ways to the Vegetable Corner, which closed in September 2022 after decades of operation. However, Corner Market will lack a butcher shop and will be more focused on baked goods and ready-to-eat fare, as well as produce and other grocery staples.

“We plan to offer breakfast pastries, muffins, cookies and other baked goods, as well as soups and sandwiches,” Cheuvront said in an interview. “We’re talking to some vendors and farms, people who can give us some meats, milk and vegetables.”

“This is still very much a work in progress,” Rollins added.

The business plans to offer bottled wines and regional beer varieties, as well as a basic selection of drip coffees and other beverages, the couple said. They added that Corner Market won’t have indoor seating and isn’t aiming to compete with local coffee shops.

Like its name, Corner Market’s interior will offer a mix of new and old. Rollins and Cheuvront are repurposing much of what was already there, while making their own upgrades to the walls, floor, ceiling and decor.

“It’s just a bunch of cosmetic stuff, basically,” Cheuvront said about the interior changes. The couple also plans to reconfigure the parking lot slightly to make it safer and conform to current town rules.

Rollins and Cheuvront said they plan to operate Corner Market seasonally from May through September. They hope to attract students as seasonal workers or interns by offering them a chance to learn culinary skills on the job.

The business will start out operating from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. four days a week, from Thursday through Sunday, with plans to expand to six days a week by the end of the summer. It will likely remain closed on Tuesdays to take deliveries and restock shelves.

The couple has said their long-term goal is to make Corner Market a year-round business, if they’re able to recruit and retain the needed staff. They’ve already begun interviewing seasonal job candidates, who would work alongside the owners.

“We plan on pretty much spending our summer here, in the store,” Rollins said.

She and Cheuvront paid $846,500 for the property, at 509 Harpswell Neck Road, according to public records. The site includes a three-bedroom home, which the couple are renovating and plan to rent out, and the adjacent business on a corner lot just shy of an acre.

The site’s former owners, Violet and Ray Tetreault, died less than a week apart on Jan. 28 and Feb. 3, respectively, just a few months after closing the market and celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary.

“We are selling the property with a heavy heart, but we will take the many memories that came from here,” Mary Evitts, one of the late couple’s seven children, wrote in a heartfelt letter to the community in July 2023. “We look forward to seeing what will come next on the special corner that brought so much to this special town I will forever call home.”

The Vegetable Corner got its start more than 35 years ago with the Tetreaults selling corn on the cob and strawberries under umbrellas on their front lawn. For many years, it had been a regular stop for residents and visitors who bought Ray Tetreault’s prime cuts of meat, as well as produce, seafood and grocery items.

Rollins grew up in Bowdoin and has close ties to the area. Her father spent nearly 40 years as a Mt. Ararat High School history teacher and still lives in Bowdoin. She bought a home in Harpswell more than 12 years ago and said she has mostly lived there seasonally. She met Cheuvront two years after buying the house.

Rollins said buying and fixing up the former business has been “a lot of roll-your-sleeves-up work,” much of which the couple has been doing themselves alongside contractors. They hope it will become a regular stop for locals to hang out and swap stories with their neighbors.

“The whole point of this place is to have a spot for the community,” Rollins said. “It’s important to us that we do it right.”

Have a comment or news tip? Email J. Craig Anderson at craig@harpswellanchor.org.