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The Starbucks that Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) and Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) frequent in the movie You’ve Got Mail – located at 2252 Broadway (on the corner of 81st Street) – officially closes today.
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“We know this isn’t just any store. It’s your coffeehouse, a place you’ve woven into your daily rhythm,” a note posted in the window reads.
Which brings us to a question that has always puzzled ILTUWS: if Kathleen Kelly, the owner of The Shop Around the Corner, was so anti–corporate chains, why was she frequently visiting Starbucks in You’ve Got Mail? The movie, released in 1998, arrived at a time when e-mail was new, and many people today may have forgotten or never heard the sound of a 28k dial-up modem eventually announcing “You’ve got mail.”
The You’ve Got Mail Crossword Puzzle: PLAY HERE
From the Starbucks 81st and Broadway location, you could throw a baseball and hit Zabar’s, where Joe Fox, the CEO of Fox Books, uses a Visa card mid-film. Fox Books, modeled after Barnes & Noble, had its own problems at its 2289 location in 2020, when CEO James Daunt almost closed it. Unexpectedly, the pandemic changed the game, and B&N announced a complete overhaul of the location in 2022. All of this is within eyeshot from this Starbucks.
Fun fact for eagle-eyed viewers: You’ve Got Mail also includes a shot in which, in the distance, the small used bookstand of Westsider Rare and Used Books (named Gryphon Books at the time) can be seen outside. Some see a connection between this iconic used book business and the fictional Shop Around the Corner. Unlike the Starbucks that just announced its closing, and the Shop Around the Corner in the film, Westsider Rare and Used Books is still in business today.
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Back in May 2025, we had visited this location following news that Westside Market had purchased the three-floor, 35,000-square-foot retail space at 2250 Broadway — currently occupied by Staples and, soon, formerly by Starbucks — for $32.5 million. When we asked the staff if they knew anything about a potential closure, they said they didn’t, which is not uncommon, as such information is often carefully timed to maximize operational efficiency.While standing outside Starbucks on September 25, an employee came out while on the phone. We said, “I’m sorry,” and they calmly and warmly replied with a smile, “It’s okay.” Shortly after, another employee came outside, appearing to be leaving while carrying some things. We asked if they were being relocated to another location, and they replied, again calmly, “I’m not sure.”
In 2019, Upper West Side locals started a petition to ‘Save Our Starbucks’ at 76th and Columbus. The New Yorker picked up on it, and while that spot shuttered, Starbucks has historically been able to shift locations within the ever-evolving NYC real estate landscape.
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