In 1934 Joseph St. John opened on Wall Street (New Haven CT) a shop selling tobacco and books. In 1946 St. John and his brother-in-law George Photakis established the Owl Shop on 416 Main St in Worcester, Mass.
Son John Photakis († 2003) entered the family business in the late 1970s and used to carve pipes to be sold in the shop. Owl on the stem was their mark.