The Weekly Review

It’s a midweek afternoon and this compact, homely café is emitting enough energy to power the half-dozen surrounding shops.

The six-week-old Corner Store is licensed to seat 300 (including outdoor seating) and has been cleverly divided to allow local families to celebrate occasions in groups of all sizes.

Cows once grazed in the paddocks and their milk was sold fresh from the building that is now a popular three-month-old café in a sleepy Footscray street.

At lunchtime on its first day of operation, the new café by the owners of South Melbourne’s Dead Man Espresso was bubbling with customer enthusiasm and staff efficiency.

Fran Roberts and Gabrielle Evans knew the folk of Brighton East would be unforgiving if they got things wrong...