The Real NYC Bookstore That Inspired ‘You’ve Got Mail’

A good romantic comedy will always be a sought-after commodity. The best of them remain warmly appealing and emotionally satisfying across the generations, and 1998's You've Got Mail certainly fits into that category.

The BAFTA Award-winning Nora Ephron directed the movie, almost a decade after Rob Reiner's highly regarded romcom, When Harry Met Sally… The heavyweight team of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan starred in You've Got Mail, with the plot concerning a small independent children's bookstore called "The Shop Around the Corner," in Manhattan.

The store, run by Kathleen Kelly (Ryan), is facing disaster thanks to the imminent opening of a large chain outlet – Fox Books. Hanks plays Joe Fox, whose family owns Fox Books. Queue a series of encounters, arguments, and misunderstandings that ultimately lead to…well, we don't want to spoil the end, although seasoned romcom viewers won't be too surprised.

THE REAL BOOK STORE THAT INSPIRED YOU'VE GOT MAIL

You've Got Mail seems remarkably prescient, although these days major chains and small independents alike are facing a shared threat in online stores. As someone who spent more than a decade working in a physical bookshop myself, I can tell you that the performances of Meg Ryan and Heather Burns, who plays an employee at "The Shop Around the Corner," are particularly convincing. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that, in preparation for the film, Ryan and Burns spent a week working at a real bookshop in Manhattan, "Books of Wonder."

As Burns later recalled: "We'd go and just kind of hang out with the staff and learn what we would be doing from moment to moment…how to work the cash register and things like that. It was really fun; I mean it was great to be around all those children's books and be around kids."

BOOKS OF WONDER

The real Books of Wonder has quite a history. It was opened in 1980 by Peter Glassman and James Carey, with a focus on new and antique children's books. Glassman initially set up the store as a place to sell his collection of rare children's volumes, but, as he and Carey realized they had more space than they needed, the pair decided to fill out the shelves with the best new kids’ books alongside acknowledged classics of the genre.

So successful was the store that the duo's dream grew to include their own publishing imprint, dedicated to reissuing classics with fresh illustrations. 

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