Date: Fri 15-May-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: LIZAM

Quick Words:

Redoshop

Full Text:

The Not So Little Shop

(W/4 cuts)

BY LIZA MONTGOMERY

NEW YORK CITY -- Maya Schaper's antiques shop on Columbus Avenue has long been

a familiar site for many New Yorkers. As a primary setting for Warner

Brothers' new movie You've Got Mail, to be released in December, it will

become familiar on a scale even Schaper never dreamed of.

"It was a little bit like winning the lottery," she admits hesitantly. An

understatement, perhaps; the romantic comedy -- starring Tom Hanks and Meg

Ryan as competing and combating bookstore owners who unknowingly fall in love

on the Internet -- looks like a sure bet for ticket sales if there ever was

one.

A location scout approached Schaper informally this January, after looking

over several other spots in the city, but went away disappointed. "I wasn't

terribly interested," Schaper recalls. "But they came again and again and

again. Then they brought the whole crew over, and I couldn't say `no' when

they told me how much they would pay."

In addition to her prime location on 72nd and Columbus, her lovely arched

window, and the shop's roomy and malleable layout, a special customer helped

cinch the decision to film there: Nora Ephron, the movie's

producer-director-writer and a former neighbor, had dropped in on many

occasions.

For a period of two weeks this spring, Schaper's store became a children's

bookshop (owned by Meg Ryan's character in the movie), and her merchandise

carefully inventoried and packed away in the basement. The windows, the first

quarter of the store, and the exterior were all transformed for the occasion,

and even the leafless trees on the sidewalks had a role to play.

"They pinned fall leaves on the branches," said Schaper, "but the next day

they had a problem because the trees' green leaves began to sprout." Christmas

also plays a part in the movie, which is based on the 1940s film The Shop

Around the Corner, so the store was decorated in all the trimmings, complete

with snow outside.

In the meantime, Schaper flew to Europe for a much-deserved vacation and

buying trip. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," she says, "but I

couldn't do it to my customers again."

Although her newfound stardom has created a great deal of excitement on the

street (One customer is also a tour guide who now points the shop out on her

route), Schaper's offerings have always been considered hard to forget. For

among her selection of casual, painted country furniture, upscale antiques and

gift items, one can find a delicious selection of cheeses.

Antiques and cheese?

A strangely logical combination, certainly, as both improve with age. It is

also a winning partnership in a city packed with hundreds of run-of-the-mill

stores. Nora Ephron agrees. "I can't imagine there are many more of them," she

says.