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Cook’s Library bookstore to close April 30

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After 20 years selling cookbooks to epicures in Los Angeles, the Cook’s Library bookstore will close April 30. ‘I am extraordinarily proud of what I’ve done,’ owner Ellen Rose told Jacket Copy. ‘I wish I could be open for another 20 years.’

Despite being located on the bustling stretch of 3rd Street east of La Cienega, she is convinced the bookstore lost business to online bookseller Amazon. She and her staff might spend 30 minutes with a customer, she says, only to have them write down the recommendations and leave — to buy the books over the Internet, she thinks. ‘Bookstores are suffering,’ she said. ‘It’s pretty discouraging.’ And with the current economic climate, the bookstore faced insurmountable challenges.

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Cook’s Library was a presence in the community, at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market and the L.A. Times Festival of Books. To stay connected to the community, Ellen Rose is considering getting back into a kitchen — possibly a soup kitchen — after the store closes.

Beginning next week, the Cook’s Library’s stock will go on sale, with markdowns continuing until the end of April.

— Carolyn Kellogg

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