 Joe Foxs grandfather mentions that long ago, he briefly shared a  pen pal romance with the stores previous owner, Cecilia Kelly  (Kathleens mother), and that they only communicated through  letters. This may have been a reference to the movies predecessor,  _Shop Around the Corner, The (1940)_ (qv), starring  James Stewart (I) (qv) and Margaret Sullavan (qv), or possibly  the famous book 84 Charing Cross Road, or the 1987 movie of the  same name, with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins as the a female  customer in New York and the male employee of the bookstore at that  address in London.