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Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks shutters after almost two decades

Barbara-Jo McIntosh (via )

Barbara-Jo McIntosh (bookstocooks.com)

Vancouver indie Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks is set to close down at the end of February after nearly 20 years of bookselling and events.

Frequented by culinary giants like Gordon Ramsay and Anthony Bourdain, the storefront at 1740 West 2nd Avenue offered cooking classes, book-club meetings, chef and food author talks, and more, in a space equipped with seating and an open kitchen. Owner Barbara-jo McIntosh says in a release to customers that she will be taking a break from the industry before “moving forward to explore a number of ideas related to what I have always done best, Cooking and Booking,” through other endeavours that will maintain the spirit of the brick-and-mortar store.

The shop will be holding a final book sale of 25 to 40 per cent off stock from now until its closure on Feb. 28. Books to Cooks’s final events include four instalments in its Honouring the Legacy of Celebrated Chefs with Books series – focusing on Alain Ducasse on Jan. 21, Thomas Keller on Jan. 28, Alice Waters on Feb. 4, and Joel Robuchon on Feb. 11 – and a Robbie Burns’ Natal Day food and poetry celebration on Jan. 25.