You’ve Got Mail: The Shop Around the Corner Bookstore

I was completely enamored by the wonderful children’s bookstore in the movie, You’ve Got Mail.  From your comments on yesterday’s post, I could tell you loved Kathleen Kelly’s bookstore as much as I did.  I decided this sweet shop deserved its own post since it played such an important part in the movie.

The Shop Around the Corner in You've Got Mail

 

In this view we’re looking back toward the entrance. Don’t we all wish The Shop Around the Corner was in our neighborhood? It’s just the kind of place you want to go when you’re a kid or where you want to take you children when they are small.

The Shop Around the Corner in Movie, You've Got Mail

 

The computer monitor dates this movie, doesn’t it? It would be a skinny sliver if this movie were made today.

The Shop Around the Corner in Movie, You've Got Mail

 

Love the sweet curtains and all that wonderful exposed brick.  The contrast of the beautiful wood molding and wood counter against the old brick is so warm and inviting, just the way a bookstore should feel. No wonder this little shop stole our hearts!

The Shop Around the Corner bookstore in Movie, You've Got Mail

 

Kathleen makes the shop even more inviting with beautiful roses for the counter.

The Shop Around the Corner bookstore in Movie, You've Got Mail

 

You’ll notice little twinkle lights here and there throughout the shop. They light up the shop’s main window and run along the bookshelves.  Did you notice the old lighting overhead? You’ll get a better view of it in a sec. This little shop has so much history.

The Shop Around the Corner bookstore in Movie, You've Got Mail

 

In this scene we see Birdie, played by Jean Stapleton.  Unfortunately, she just passed away in real life about two weeks ago, a great loss. I loved her part in this movie. She’s a good friend and a stabilizing force for Kathleen.

The Shop Around the Corner bookstore in Movie, You've Got Mail

 

Along with twinkle lights, cute paper-dolls and heart garland decorate the bookshelves.

The Shop Around the Corner bookstore in Movie, You've Got Mail

 

After the shop closes, we see the real structure, the bones of this lovely store.

The Shop Around the Corner bookstore in Movie, You've Got Mail Closing Day

 

Shooting this scene at night just added to the sadness of seeing it empty.

The Shop Around the Corner bookstore in Movie, You've Got Mail Closing Day

 

You can really see the detail of the lighting in this view.

The Shop Around the Corner bookstore in Movie, You've Got Mail Closing Day

 

I think this may be the only thing we would all change about the movie. We would rewrite the script so the store would be saved and stay open, right?

If you’re wondering about the store today, the store was Maya Schaper’s Cheese and Antiques at the time of the making of the movie.  They turned it into The Shop Around the Corner temporarily for the movie.

The Shop Around the Corner bookstore in Movie, You've Got Mail Closing Day

 

Eventually, the Cheese and antique shop closed and it became Cafe Sonatina.  The Cafe didn’t last and today it’s La Mode Cleaners per an article I read online. In our hearts, it will always look like this, filled to overflowing with wonderful books.

The Shop Around the Corner in Movie, You've Got Mail

 

And it will always be story-time.  Wouldn’t it be great if someone actually bought it and turned it into a bookstore, just like in the movie? Think it would work and be a success?

The Shop Around the Corner in Movie, You've Got Mail

 

If you missed yesterday’s post where we toured Kathleen’s wonderful brownstone in Manhattan, you’ll find it here: You’ve Got Mail: Tour the Manhattan Brownstone Apartment

Meg Ryan's Brownstone Apartment in Movie, You've Got Mail_wm

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Comments

  1. Yes, I had mentioned in my comment yesterday that although I loved this movie, it did make me sad to see the shop close. Sadly, I don’t think it would be a success if it opened today. Even the big stores are struggling. Seems so many want to read on their kindle!

  2. Susan, that is one of my all time favorite movies along with Sleepless In Seattle! Meg and Tom were great in both of those. Can anyone remember other movies that they starred in(together)? Thanks, Susan!

  3. Peggy Thal says

    Such a sweet little book store. Wish we had a store like that in our town. It also was so sad when you see it empty. Bad Fox book store coming to town! Best characters ever in The Shop Around The Corner. All a little wacko. Such a fun and sweet movie. Tugs on the heart strings.

  4. I was glad to see you expand on this movie post. The bookstore was the most charming ever.

  5. What an awesome post. It is truly a delightful and dreamy place. And it gets me thinking and kinda mad and very worried.

    Unfortunately people have to live with choices: if we don’t support local independant small business and choose to purchase at the Big Box Chain Stores slowly but surely the little guys are always gobbled up. It is amazing to see this movie and know how dead-on right they were – and it is worse today than ever. These independant sweet shops (of all kinds) are fading right before out eyes!

    ASK Y OURSELVES THIS:

    When is the last time I purchased something from a Mom and Pop kind of store? Do I even know where one is located? Do I ever shop local farm markets or street fairs? Do I buy from unique American artists from etsy? Do I read labels and avoid supporting the growth of imported goods? When is the last time I bought something stamped “Made in America?” We all see that we seldom even SEE something stamped Made in USA t hese days. There is a reason for it – and we all are really partially to blame.

    I loved this little book store and cry every single time I see a real one close. Especially since I truly do try to avoid the Big Box Retailers whenever I am able to do so. Oftentimes those sweet little bookstores – or hardware or grocery stores, etc. can usually ORDER for you what you are looking for…………….and most often they will even match pricing to stay competitive. I would rather give my hard earned money to them any day. And I pray Kindle and Nook don’t EVER replace a real book, there is nothing at all better to me than an actual book in my hand.

    This sweet movie was dead on right. More is lost than simply a charming caring bookstore. What is lost is The American Dream. Let’s not let it go, let’s all fight for it to stay alive!

  6. Seeing it turned into a dry cleaners just breaks my heart…. such a waste of a beautiful space.

  7. We had two wonderful independent bookstores here, but they just couldn’t compete once Barnes & Noble moved in. Sad because they had a great section of used books, with comfy chairs and free coffee! (I am a sucker for free coffee.)

  8. I liked this movie, but my favorite Meg Ryan movie is French Kiss with Kevin Kline. (I think it was Kevin Kline.) She is just adorable.

    • That is one of my favorites too! Glad she made so many great movies before the cosmetic procedures ruined her career. When Harry Met Sally, Joe Versus the Volcano, the Women, Kate & Leopold, City of Angels, Prelude to a Kiss, When a Man Loves a Woman!

  9. Sharon From Michigan says

    I adore little Mom and Pop stores. The city that I live in (Wyandotte, Michigan) has lots of Mom and Pops in the downtown section, unfortunately a good portion of them don’t stay very long because of the high rents and Michigan’s economy right now. Lots of people shop at the big box stores instead…it’s a shame.

  10. Rosie Moreno says

    Thank you, Susan, for the posts of the last 2 days. I know you are going through a difficult time and I am sorry for your loss. I admire the fact that through it all, you can still start our days with unique and interesting entries. It was fascinating to see the history of this once precious space. A favorite small music store of mine is now closing in our area and your posting was very timely for me, as I will miss a special place to visit and shop. I regret my grandchildren will probably never know the kind of stores that offer real personal customer service and welcoming environments that make the shopping experience a pleasant one, and not just part of an errand that has to be done!

  11. Marilyn in Mt. Vernon, VA says

    @Sharon from Michigan: Agree with you 100%!!!

  12. A dry cleaners seems even sadder than the empty store! We have a darling independent bookstore in a nearby town that also offers discounts and online ordering so I try to go to her first when buying books. It is as convenient as Amazon or B&N and I can skip the shipping costs by picking up my order in-store.

  13. pam ~ crumpety cottage says

    Often, people don’t realize the importance of supporting their local merchants until it’s too late. I make a specific effort to support local businesses as much as possible. I do use Amazon because it’s so convenient and I’m out in a small rural area with few shops, but when I can I ‘save up’ for those times I go into town and shop. Yes, I would love to have this shop nearby. I’d go in, even if I didn’t have a little one! Lol. It’s so cozy and it was so much fun when Kathleen would don her big pointy hat (I think it had some whispery fabric attached) and read to the children. I forget what she called herself, The Book Lady or the Story Lady or some such. I used to read to little ones too. It was so much fun and they loved it when I’d put on voices and read in exaggerated tones (if the book called for such.) I love little kids. 🙂 Some of them are so precious. Others … well, not so much. 😀

  14. Susan,
    Always lived that quaint bookstore in the
    Movie . As my son Matthew would say when he was
    A little guy, “it’s so cozy, comfortable!
    Also, I really live the light fixtures, which
    Really impart an antiquated look!

  15. suzan miller says

    Hello Susan. Love your site. Love, love, love this movie and am so glad to see the apartment and the shop here. Now I want to see the Cafe Lalo where they were going to meet. Gosh it’s a beautiful cafe. I want to go there for coffee later today. Wish it was here in Indiana. Will continue to read your site. Thanks. Suzan

  16. One of my all time favorites! Her shop is darling in that movie and so is her house! It’s a sad but sweet movie about how things change with progress. It would be wonderful to shop in small stores with attractive, helpful shop owners who carry interesting things. But, that is mostly in the movies not in real life. The world has shrunk so much that we can get almost anything we want, in any season in any town(if you have a computer). It is nostalgic but so are the movies with women hanging clothes on a line and beating a rug. I hung clothes as a kid for a family of seven….not quite as much fun as it looks in the movies. I think these small stores are making a comeback……people like the whole idea…..I just can’t afford to shop in most of them. But, they are cute!

  17. Sleepless In Seattle is one that I think should be required to get a marriage license. I love that one, for the “magic” that was talked about in it. Hmm, wonder if it’s available by “streaming”. The bookstore in “You’ve Got Mail” reminded me of the shops in the Highland Village (?) of Atlanta or is it Virginia Highland? It’s been years ago, but I enjoyed the area. The old verus new and vice versa is interesting in large cities. Love the large cities!

  18. Phyllisa says

    Hi Susan. You did a wonderful job (as usual) of profiling the movie You’ve Got Mail. The two main characters’
    apartments are fabulous, but the charming book store stole the movie! I have been to many small book stores near where I have lived and when I travel and I just love them. Unfortunately, they have probably all disappeared. One
    recently closed in my town. I must admit I do enjoy the large book stores for their convenience, large inventory,
    and reduced prices. As for electronic readers, I think they have a place and hopefully encourage more people to read.
    But I am sad to have been on the receiving end of people ridiculing me for owning/purchasing “old fashioned books
    and living in the Dark Ages” (their words). I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my books and will NEVER give them up! I have a very large collection of books on all my interests and then some. I enjoy them immensely. I love holding them, turning the pages, feeling them. I LOVE THEM!
    I have always been a lover of the old, antique and historical. I keep up with new technology, but only to a point. The
    rest I can do without. I am definitely not of the disposable generation. And I pray enough of us survive and educate
    the new generation on what is worthwhile and important.
    Phyllisa

    • @Phyllissa…. I am aghast at the audacity of someone to say such a thing to you about ‘real’ books! I’m with you in your sentiments about books, and so are a lot of people! Don’t let whoever they are get away with bullying you verbally like that. They have no right to put you down for your choices of what you do and don’t like. Too many people think they have the right to do that to others. I can’t stand narcissistic type people who do that kind of thing. It’s disrespectful and wrong. If I could, I’d buy a huge warehouse and buy up all the ‘real’ books no one wants and save them. Especially the older non-fiction ones, with historic facts in them that the new ones don’t have. I believe a lot of truths are being eliminated from books these days, that are in the older books. They need to be saved and protected.

  19. Susan I loved the movie and loved the bookshop. Maybe some bloggers should get together and turn it back into a darling bookshop again!
    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena
    Giveaway from Splendid Sass

  20. Linda Page says

    I really love the ceiling lights. I wish I could have one just like it to put in the hall. The details on it are wonderful. One of my favorite Meg Ryan movies is City of Angels. I even have the sound track. I loved it when she tried to describe the taste and feel of a pear to Nicolas Cage. Awesome! I fully support Mom and Pop stores as much as possible. I have had horrible experiences with one big box store, Lowes. I had to return 4 sinks before I got one that was not damaged or very poorly made. Small local stores depend on the local consumer to keep them in business. Big box stores know there will be 40 other people to replace me if I shop somewhere else. So they blow me off. Please support your local business people & farmers. Buy American whenever possible. I still pay my bills by check in an envelope with a stamp on it because I support the post office and the people that work there. I don’t want to see them lose their jobs because of internet bill paying. I also recycle. We all have to do our part in whatever way we can to help and support each other. Ok, I am off by soap box now! lol

  21. Definitely prefer the bookshop! haha 🙂

  22. *sigh* I love it!!

  23. I have enjoyed the tours and I adore that children’s bookstore as well as the brownstone. I would love to have my children’s series displayed in that cute bookstore instead of the big box book stores or Amazon. I look forward to viewing some more interesting places.

  24. Mary from Virginia says

    I don’t ever member visiting a small shop like Kathleen’s book store, but it would have fit in where I grew up. It was in the first planned community in the USA. We had a fabric store, florist, small furniture store, drug store, grocery store, butcher shop, dr and dentist offices, even a small movie theater. To see it now, is so very sad! I agree the big stores have made it difficult for everyone. I did adore Kathleen’s book store. It was precious. Thank you so much for highlighting such a fun movie! I can’t wait until the next movie. 🙂

  25. Susan, there was nothing that I did not love about this movie. It is one of my all time favorites. The closing of the bookstore reminded me of how very sad I was, when Ingleside Books closed here. I loved buying books and attending book signings there. I still miss it! Thanks for these posts on, “You’ve Got Mail” – I think one of the smartest movies ever written.

    • Is that Ingleside in Macon? The reason I ask is I used to buy my Nancy Drew books at Joyland down on Ingleside Avenue in Macon when I was a child and sadly, it’s no longer there.

      • Yes, Susan! The very same Ingleside. I do not remember Joyland books. I have been in middle Georgia (Milledgeville and Macon) over thirty years and I remember only Ingleside Books. They closed, after Barnes & Noble moved here – that is why the movie reminded me of the demise of our local bookstore. So sad!! Oh, how I did love buying those Nancy Drew books, but I purchased them at Davison’s in Atlanta and Columbus. I cannot remember, if the one in Macon had a book section…

        • I think Joyland may have been a toy store, too. When you headed down Rogers Avenue going toward Riverside and away from Vineville, once you reached Ingleside, you turned left and Joyland was just a few stores down on the left. I think it was the 3rd or 4th store down, something like that. I remember when you walked in the front door, it was a long, skinny store and always seemed kind of dark inside. My best friend, Nan and I never even looked at the toys, we made a beeline straight for the back of the store where the Nancy Drew books were shelved. We’d stand there for 20-30 minutes trying to decide which book to buy with our allowance. My allowance was $2 every two weeks and a Nancy Drew book was $1.50 plus tax. After we read our books, we would swap and read each others. Joyland was a tiny little store, as I recall. I don’t remember Ingleside books, maybe it appeared after I moved away from that side of Macon. My Joyland visits would have been back around 1966-1968. I think I was around 9-11 years old. Macon Mall had a Davisons, that’s where I worked during college to pay for my flying lessons. 🙂 Is it a Macy’s now?

          • Yes, there is a Macy’s (formerly Davison’s) at the Mall, but there was, also, one in downtown Macon in the 50s. My sister-in-law worked there, when she and my brother were both students at Mercer in the late 1950s – they both graduated in 1960. Your description of where Joyland was located reads like it might have been where Baskin-Robbins had an ice cream shop for a while. I think Ingleside Books was a little further down that side of the street. Nancy Drew is still in my heart – my daughter and I threw my granddaughter a Nancy Drew birthday party for her 7th birthday. I wrote about it in one of my posts – never had so much fun!

  26. I have been a grade school librarian for the last seventeen years and I worked hard to make my small library look like Kathleen’s Little Shop Around the Corner. Alas with the square footage of the library that was not always possible but I still think it was the cutest little library in town.
    Suzan
    Ladybug Cottage

  27. I’d love to believe a little book shop like that could survive these days, but most likely it wouldn’t. I cry during the scene of her walking out of it for the last time, and seeing herself and her mom dancing around. So sad. Awesome post, Susan!
    xo Heidi

  28. Sigh… Such a great movie! And I loved the bookstore too! It looks like somewhere I’d always hang out if I lived there!

  29. Oh, I LOVE that bookstore! Thanks for the post! 🙂

  30. Cold Water Books in Tuscumbia, Al is a great little independent bookstore with a similar feel. Not just children’s books and includes a coffee shop — overflowing with charm.

  31. I still LOVE that book store today. Exactly what a children’s book store ought to be. And when she and mom were in the store together, they would twirl! Remember, she called it twirling!!

  32. Lois from PA says

    LOVE this movie, and its a regular for me especially when the husband is not home or out fixing something in the garage! The truth is though that small business really can’t afford New York City. as a former New Yorker, I can tell you that the rent on that store now, probably is around $1,800 a month and the apartment is around $2,200.00 per month! my brother-in-law lives in a studio on E. 72nd and pays $1,600.00 with a murphy bed! and that’s considered reasonable…. I grew up in Brooklyn, it took us by car ten minutes to go into Manhattan, my husband, then boyfriend , and I used to make that ten minute drive every night, get pizza from a little place on the West side , now Battery Park, and sit on the bulkhead and view the progress of the Twin Towers being built…. we used to then drive up to a little bistro in SoHo and meet friends for coffee and Italian cheesecake! Brooklyn, especially south Brooklyn, (watch “Moonstruck” for the best representation of that lifestyle) was nothing but Mom & Pop shops, everything from cafe’s to cheese shops! Growing up our mothers did not shop in Pathmark – you went to the fish monger, the butcher, the egg man and the vegetable stand on the corner! everyone knew you by name and meat was wrapped in brown butcher paper with your name on it! everyone knew what your mother ordered, and the food bill was paid every Friday when your father came home with his paycheck. On Sunday mornings the street was filled with the smell of fresh baked bread from the Italian bakery which you would pick up on your way home from church. Those were great times! and we lived in what most people considered the city! On summer nights parents and grandparents would sit outside on the front porches while all the kids would congregate in the street and play stick ball or hopscotch and wait for the ice cream truck to come. Ohhh, sweet memories – now I need to head to the mall and then Sam’s club! have a great weekend!

    • Lois, that’s a side of New York I’ve never heard about…really sounded wonderful and very home/family centered. I actually figured the apartments would be a lot more, surprised the rent is that low for the apartment and for the store. I would have guessed the store rent was several thousand a month since NY is soooo high. Thanks for sharing all that wonderful information and imagery.

    • Hi Lois…. thank you so much for your wonderful description of that lifestyle. I so enjoyed reading it. And I totally love the movie Moonstruck and watch it often… love all the little stores and the idea that it is safe to walk those streets at night as well. Thank again for sharing your memories!!

  33. Such a lovely surprise to see someone else so enamored with ‘the shop around the corner’. I featured a very similar post in my blog quite a few months ago:
    http://enlightenmentforthesleepy.blogspot.com/2013/01/youve-got-mail-shop-around-corner.html
    I love this movie, and wish I could step right into it. So lovely to see it featured on your blog xxx

  34. I loved this bookstore as I do ALL your posts. We visited NY with a school trip I have not idea where we were, by some famous and small ice cream shop and there was a tea shop with the same charm as this bookstore. But barely big enough for a mouse to enter. Oh how I wish I had gotten to go in and had some pictures of it, to look at. I would like to think that it could survive with people trying to slow down. I buy local when I can just for this reason, even if it costs more. Another shop I would like to tour was in Harry potter the one with the winding staircase, they get there wands there, probably just made for the movie but I just love quaint unique things like that. I have a sewing room my husband built under the staircase for me, in an L shape just barely big enough to turn around in like a little mouse hole and I love it!

  35. LOVE this post and LOVE this movie. Every time I watch it, I vow to wear my jumpers and tights instead of throwing on jeans and a sweater. And every time I watch this I fight with myself not to cut my hair off. I did get this haircut once and it was adorable but I looked nothing like Kathleen Kelly nor did I meet my Joe F-O-X! 🙂 The book store is charming and because of this movie I know call the Italian Christmas lights “twinkle” lights. I love how she twirls and I hate when she closes the door and takes the bell home with her. I echo all of the sentiments about small town America going away – it scares me too! I would love to live her life – bringing a pumpkin to work with me and bouquets of sharpened pencils. It is just as a bookstore should be. And I could have totally done without the dry cleaner picture – oh the horror! 🙂 I only wish this wasn’t a movie – if only our lives and world was such that this could be a most lovely reality!

    • I know exactly what you mean, it has the same effect on me. Meg Ryan looks so cute in everything she wears. I once cut my hair super short and it looked awful on me. Always wish I had a face that a short hairstyle would work on, but no such luck. It really would be a dream to have a bookstore like that! I know, if only life was REALLY this way! 🙂

  36. Add me to the list of lovers of The Shop Around the Corner!… it looked like such a wonderful place to shop… so warm and cozy and cheerful with the fun decorations. Loved the layout, and how everything was set up and all the decorating choices. How sad that no one wanted to keep the front of that space looking at least similar to the movie form, for the nostallgia of it if nothing else, no matter what was sold inside.

    Only one scene in that whole movie always irritates the heck out of me though – at Christmas time, when she is putting out more ‘twinkle lights’ – which appear to be plugged in..???… and her employee is standing there with the lights around her neck, and holding a pair of scissors and trying to cut out snowflakes… and they both start walking towards to door of the store… and the girl is waving those scissors around like crazy and I keep waiting for Meg to back up into them and get stabbed – or worse, the employee will accidently cut the wires of the lights instead of the paper in her hand and get electrocuted…. Everytime I watch it I wonder why the director let that girl walk around with those scissors so carelessly! Even if the lights were not really plugged in etc… it was still dangerous looking to me. They sure looked real… hopefully they weren’t! But it’s a difficult scene for me to watch…worries me to pieces…lol.l

    Thank you Susan for capturing the still shots for us! I’m going to have to save all these and print them out one day. Love the idea of being able to see the places without having to watch the movie!

    • I know, that would have been so wonderful if they had kept the front the same! Ha, that’s true about the scissors. I hadn’t noticed that but you’re right. Wonder what Meg thought when she saw that scene later! Thanks Laurie! So glad you enjoyed it. I always notice so many things I missed before when I do these posts, so they are fun to create. 🙂

  37. Genna Cannon says

    Susan, I just found this link and was glad to see your write up about “The Shop Around the Corner”. I am happy to tell you that I believe the movie shop was fashioned after a store I worked for in Montrose, CA called Once Upon A Time, a children’s bookstore. The store was founded in 1966 by Mrs. Jane Humphrey who I believe the character of “Gerty” was supposed to look and sound like. Jane was married and Gerty wasn’t, yet the clothing, hair style, age, and charm were the same. I worked for Jane for 5 years as her assistant and floor / window display artist (1990’s). Jane’s store looked and felt very much the way the shop did in the movie. The first time I saw the movie I started to tear up for surprise when the fresh flowers were set on the old wood counter top- just as Jane always did. I wore black tights and little black skirts, Jane looked like Gerty, and we had another shop clerk with short shaggy blonde hair. The town of Montrose is very near to Burbank, CA- studio city central (Warner Bros, NBC, ABC, Disney, etc) and we had a lot of clientele from those areas that came through. When I saw the movie I was absolutely sure the storyline of that children’s bookstore and all who made up it’s charm was pulled from Once Upon A Time. Today, Jane Humphrey’s life will be celebrated as she passed away two weeks ago. I have been reminiscing and was looking for the movie scene where Kathleen takes one last look and flashes back to a scene of her and her mother spinning and dancing in the store after hours- the way I feel about saying Goodbye to Jane. The store still stands, is open, and is run now by a new owner who is working to keep the integrity of Jane’s charm. The store is listed as the oldest children’s bookstore in America. Hope you enjoy the info and the knowledge that The Shop Around the Corner Once Upon a Time did exist and those people (although morphed into different roles) were there. For many years, Jane did fight a battle to stay alive as an independent against the incoming superstores (Barnes and Noble, Walmart, etc.), yet she did win and her store did stay open. You see , in the real story, when Jane decided to retire and sell, one of her child customers wrote the local paper asking where she will get the next Harry Potter book. That child’s mother bought the store. 🙂
    http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2013-10-11/news/tn-gnp-bookstore-founder-dies-20131011_1_maureen-palacios-jane-humphrey-bookstore
    Genna Cannon

  38. Genna Cannon says

    So glad to share. I follow the new store and it’s web connections, yet feel, although, they try hard and are very active with the community, the feel is not the same without Jane there. I’m glad the store is still going. The Polacios have made it their own (were able to buy all the original furnishings, yet moved to a different spot on the street. So, the store set up and decor are different) and were very good about keeping Jane in the loop until her last days. I just hope that Nora Ephron and Jane get to have a “cute meet” in heaven to discuss the movie set designer’s copy of Once Upon a Time and Jane’s influence. – Genna Cannon

  39. I just watched the movie, “The Shop Around the Corner” and was wondering if anyone knew- is The Shop Around the Corner in You’ve Got Mail filmed in the same location as the store in the original movie? Or was it just modeled to look similar. They’ve got a lot of similarities- even the same endearing checkered tile.

  40. Just finished your first post on You’ve Got Mail, and just had to pop-in the movie! 😀 And this post has to be a favorite of mine out of your house tour posts.

    -Merry

  41. I hate to disappoint everyone but if you go to Special Features on the DVD and watch the commentated version of the movie, the producers clearly state that while the exterior of Kathleen Kelly’s apartment is shot on site at 328 W. 89th Street, the interior is actually a set that was built at the Teaneck Armory in New Jersey. The same is true for the “Shop Around the Corner”. The exterior shots were shot onsite at 106 W. 69th and Columbus but the interior was also a set built in New Jersey. The amazing thing is how authentic they were able to make it look. I’m sure it was modeled after one of the original apartments. If you haven’t watched to commentated version of the movie, you should take the time to do so. It is very educational and extremely interesting. Gives great insights to the making of the movie. I just returned from a trip to New York with my daughter. You’ve Got Mail has been our favorite movie ever since it was released. She was only about 9 at the time but we both fell in love with it and have watched it hundreds of times. We constantly quote lines from it. It gets annoying at times. While we were in NYC we visited every site from the movie we could find and took pictures. It’s so much fun now to watch the movie and be able to say, “Hey, I stood right there and had my picture made!” In my humble opinion, no movie will ever touch this one in the genre of “Romantic Comedy” and believe me, I’ve seen them all.

  42. I’ve watched the movie many many times but today, for the first time, I noticed the floor pattern!! Look at the floor tiles in her kitchen & in The Shop Around the Corner. And in Meg’s bedroom. Thanks for putting all the pics together & sharing them – what a nice way to wake up!!

  43. Laura McIlwain says

    Recall from memory of movie that ‘the shop’ was gift-replicated to Kathleen by Joe with the inferenced love gesture to foster her bliss n their shared passion, inside ‘Fox Books.’ Why is it now absent in current movie versions? One thought is the seamless ending of possibilities with an upward sky span? It is evident you get the nuances of n for detailed vinettes beautifully present in the artist/s mind’s eye. Thanks for sharing your research, and any response you care to bestow.

  44. A lot has changed since this was posted in 2013 but Books of Wonder, the IRL books store the interior of Shop Around the Corner was based on, has not. For all of those who loved Shop Around the Corner, you can visit Books of Wonder uptown at 217 W. 84th or at the flagship store at 18 W. 18th Street.

  45. Do you have any clue as to where I can find the lighting fixture in the shop on the ceiling? I love this old fixtures and would look great in our room that we’re remodeling.

    • Unfortunately, I don’t know. You may want to show some of the photos in this post to someone who sources old lighting fixtures or reproductions. Hope you can find them, Elena!

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