Corner Shop The Corner Shop in Coronation Street is a general provisions and off - licence which has been owned by Dev Alahan since 1999 . It is located at 15 Coronation Street and has been in business , in various guises , since 1902 . Its current operating name is D & S Alahan ' s ( the S stands for Dev ' s wife Sunita Alahan ) . The shop has been refurbished several times , most notably in 1985 when Alf Roberts converted it into a self - service mini - market , converting much of the space taken up by the shop ' s ground accommodation ( where the owner generally lived ) to extend the shop space . Above the shop is Flat No . 15a , the ownership of which is tied to the shop and is usually rented out or used for storage . Previous shop owners : Its current front counter assistant and till operator is Erica Holroyd ( 2015 - ) and Cathy Matthews ( 2017 - ) . Operating history . The Corner Shop was the first building to be seen in the first episode of Coronation Street . At the time , Elsie Lappin was the owner . She was about to hand the shop over to Florrie Lindley as Elsie was moving away from Weatherfield . The first owner of the shop was lay preacher Cedric Thwaite who owned the shop from the opening of the shop from 1902 to December 1915 . He married Lottie Hofner in 1910 and she moved into the shop with him . In December 1915 , Cedric sold the shop to Tommy Foyle , who moved in with his sister Amelia . Amelia died from the flu in 1919 . The next person to move into the shop was Lil Makepiece , who married Tommy Foyle in 1923 . Tommy became a young widower in 1927 when Lil died of bronchitis . Tommy re - married in 1930 to variety singer Elsie Castleway . Their first child , Hilda , was born in 1933 followed by their second daughter , Shelagh , in 1935 . Elsie became a young widow when Tommy died suddenly during the end - of - war street party on 8th May 1945 . After his death , Elsie became owner of the shop . Elsie re - married in 1947 to Les Lappin . He died in January 1952 . The next person to own the shop was Florrie Lindley , who ran the shop after Elsie retired to Knott End in December 1960 until she reconciled with her estragned husband and moved with him to Canada on 2nd June 1965 . During Florrie ' s tenure the shop frontage was altered with a new window and doorway . Shortly after that , ex - army sergeant Lionel Petty bought the corner shop after his daughter Sandra persuaded him to do so ( she was trying to revive her short - lived " romance " with Dennis Tanner ) . Sandra moved out after a few months . Lionel was rarely seen and in January 1966 , he decided to give up the shop , selling it to David and Irma Barlow . David and Irma had a rocky start to their marriage and in 1968 the couple decided to emigrate to Australia . In April 1968 , Les and Maggie Clegg bought the shop , but due to Les ' s alcohol problem Les and Maggie got a divorce and Les gave the shop to Maggie as a settlement . In 1970 , Irma returned to Coronation Street a widow as David and her baby son Darren had been killed in a car crash in Australia . Irma took on the job of shop assistant , to help out Maggie for a while . On 8th July 1974 , Maggie married Ron Cooke . The couple decided to emigrate to Zaire and the shop was rented to Tricia Hopkins mother , Vera . After the Hopkins family left , Blanche Hunt was employed to act as caretaker manager of the shop until she left in 1976 . The shop was then run by Gail Potter and her friend Tricia . In 1976 , Renee Bradshaw bought the shop and applied to become an off - licence . Annie Walker opposed the idea but Renee won the application . In 1978 , Renee married Alf Roberts and the following year Alf decided to give up his job at the Post Office to spend more time helping Renee in the shop . Renee died in a road accident in 1980 and Alf inherited the shop . He ran it with the help of Deirdre Langton , who continued to work there until 1987 . In 1985 , Alf changed the structure and layout of the Corner Shop . The shop was extended into the back room and the staircase that had been there since the street was built in 1902 was removed to create a self - service mini - market . The words CORNER SHOP were displayed in large red letters on the main shop sign with " Alf ' s Mini Market " painted on the window . The upstairs bedsit was renovated into a more comfortable flat with a separate entrance built in Viaduct Street . Alf opened the new shop in September 1985 and in December of that year he married Audrey Potter , who joined him in working in the shop part - time . Sally Webster began work as Alf ' s assistant in 1987 . Alf decided to retire from the shop in 1993 and sold the Mini - Market to Brendan Scott , formerly an area manager of the supermarket chain Bettabuy . Brendan was hoping to open several shops under the umbrella name of " Best Buys " and saw the Coronation Street shop as the first rung in his empire . He later decked the shop out as an old - fashioned grocery under the new name " Scott ' s Provisions " Brendan ' s dream was not fulfilled as shortly after opening the business he died of a heart attack on the shop floor . Alf Roberts bought the shop back , but soon sold it on to Bettabuy ' s manager Reg Holdsworth for £68 , 000 . Reg ran the shop with his wife Maureen and her mother Maud Grimes . Reg and Maureen later divorced and she took the shop in the settlement , renaming it " Maureen ' s Mini Market " . In 1997 , Maureen married Fred Elliott but left him within days . Fred managed to buy the shop back , renaming it " Elliott ' s " and installing his nephew ( later to be revealed as his son ) Ashley Peacock as manager , with Maud still working there . In February 1999 , Fred sold the shop to Ravi Desai , who installed his daughter Nita and sister - in - law Maya as staff . After only ten months in charge , in December , Ravi sold the Corner Shop and six other shops in the area to his nephew Dev Alahan . In November 2004 , Dev ' s empire of corner shops and mini - markets went up in smoke when his vengeful and unbalanced ex - girlfriend Maya Sharma systematically burned down the businesses over the course of one evening . As Dev raced around the area to the shops , Maya took his new wife Sunita hostage . When Dev returned he was also gagged and bound while Maya torched the shop . Dev and Sunita were rescued but the Corner Shop exploded in a ball of fire , gutting the building . Maya then tried to run the Alahans ' down , but failed as a lorry crashed into her car . Dev rebuilt the Corner Shop but his relationship with Sunita ended in early 2006 . She had recently given birth to their twins Aadi and Asha when she discovered that he had several secret children with former staff members . For a time , Dev ran the shop employing his daughter Amber Kalirai , Molly Dobbs and Sophie Webster . Sunita returned to work at the shop in 2010 after being reconciled with Dev . In early December , the shop was destroyed when it was hit by a derailed tram . Sunita , Molly and her baby Jack were trapped in the rubble following the accident . While Sunita and Jack escaped with relatively minor injuries , Molly died before she could be freed . During the tragedy , £5 , 000 of the shop ' s takings was stolen by Becky McDonald to pay half - sister Kylie Turner for custody of her son Max . The rebuilding of the shop was halted when it emerged that Dev had not insured the business and was not able to afford the work . Feeling guilty over the theft , Becky ' s husband Steve repaid the money to the Alahans after a casino win , claiming he had stolen it from them himself .