I began dreaming in the cornerstore some time after beginning 6th grade in 2014.
The Cornerstore appears outwardly very similar to the gas station by the main road of my old house (the house i lived in from 2013 to 2021). There is a green sign out front, the text of which I can't read (as expected), with tan stone walls and an empty parking lot out front. The green overhand has lights beneath it for whenever I show up at night, though it doesn't happen often.
The inside is considerably different, however- It's much smaller, even for a gas station, and it's stocked like a shop twice it's size. Chips, candy, and snacks line the shelves so thickly that I can't see the walls behind them. There are also other things that you wouldn't usually find in a Cornerstore- raw fish in plastic wrap packaging, shoes and socks, specialized factory tools(?), denture adhesive, and boxes that are advertised as just being full of different 'flavors' of packing peanut are among the many things I've seen that seem out of place. The front register is equally as packed with loads of gum, lighters, tobacco products, lottery tickets, baked goods, and an icee machine behind the counter that only serves blue raspberry icees.
There are occasionally other shoppers in the store, but they would react about as normally as a shopper might in real life- acknowledging me quietly and ignoring me, sometimes asking me if I know where a certain product is. These Hubshoppers are very average looking and tend to wear the physiques of my colleagues across life, such as students and coworkers. They don't interest me a great deal.
What does interest me is the Storeclerk. He's a man in a starched suit with black hair, and he's not particularly nice. I have often attempted to order something behind the counter, usually one of the blue icees, but he refuses me more often than not. I can actually walk around and make it myself, in which case he will acquiesce and let me buy the item.
DEFINITE
1) I have never began the dream in the corner store- I must find it on the street. I haven't spoken at length about the street yet. You'll probably hear more of it in an update comment, but what you need to know is that many of my dreamhubs are accessed by the same street. The point is that I don't find myself anywhere near the Cornerstore in the beginning of my dream- I have to find the street first, which is usually some place outside of my dreamhubs or within my filler dream, and follow it to the Cornerstore.
1) I must have money on my person for the store to be open. If i'm not in possession of money in some way, say I realized I forgot my wallet halfway there, the store is always closed. It doesn't have to be on my person, I just have to know where it is and be able to access it- I have on one occassion dropped by debit card down the sewer drain and the moment I looked up the store was closed and empty.
INDEFINITE
The only indefinite rule I know of in the Cornerstore is this: Do not shoplift from the store.
So... that was my first mistake.
I very much did that, and the Storeclerk became exceptionally aggressive and started to harrassme, exiting the Cornerstore and chasing me down the street. I managed to outrun him, but when I returned to the Cornerstore in another dream later that week, it was permanently closed. I later found it was removed foundation and all from the lot. This was my first run in with ruination, and It was not my last. I doubt I'm done ruining dreamhubs, if not on purpose then certainly by my own mishaps. In my dreams I find myself failing to think ahead, which is unusual of me. I guess it's to be expected when you're asleep.