Editing Ina Garten (section)

=== Barefoot Contessa store ===
Garten left her government job in 1978 after spotting an ad for a {{convert|400|sqft|m2|adj=on}} specialty food store called Barefoot Contessa in [[Westhampton Beach, New York]].<ref name = Fischer/> "My job in Washington was intellectually exciting and stimulating but it wasn't me at all," she explained four years later.<ref name=nytimes-enid/> She also found it better for her marriage for her and her husband to lead more independent lives, as a more traditionalist configuration earlier on, in which Jeffrey was the head of household, became stifling and led them to briefly separate.<ref name = Fischer/>

After traveling to visit the store, she purchased it and moved to New York. She often worked 12 hour days at the business. The store had been named by its original owner in tribute to the [[The Barefoot Contessa|1954 film]] which starred [[Ava Gardner]]. Garten kept the name; it meshed well with her idea of an "elegant but earthy" lifestyle.<ref>{{cite web |last = Garten |first = Ina |year = 2006 |url = http://www.barefootcontessa.com/qna.html#about |title = Q & A. |work = Barefoot Contessa Online |access-date = 2006-04-06 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060330204458/http://www.barefootcontessa.com/qna.html |archive-date = March 30, 2006 }}</ref> Incidentally, as of 2006 she had not seen the film.<ref>{{cite news |first = Bill |last = Ward |title = At Home with the Cookbook Contessa |work = [[Minneapolis Star Tribune]] |date = November 30, 2006 |page = 1T }}</ref> 

Three years later, Garten had moved Barefoot Contessa across Main Street to a larger property, and in 1985, she opened a second location at the newly vacated premises of gourmet shop [[Dean & DeLuca]] in the [[Long Island]] village of [[East Hampton (village), New York|East Hampton]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Garten |first=Ina |title=Be Ready When The Luck Happens: A Memoir |date=October 1, 2024 |publisher=Crown |isbn=978-0-593-79989-5 |edition=First |location=New York}}</ref> In contrast to [[Westhampton Beach, New York|Westhampton]]'s seasonal beach atmosphere, East Hampton houses a year-round community, providing a larger customer base. In East Hampton, Garten expanded the store over seven times its original size, from its original {{convert|400|sqft|m2}} to more than {{convert|3000|sqft|m2}}. In this new, larger space, the store specialized in delicacies such as lobster [[Cobb salad]], [[caviar]], imported cheeses, and locally grown produce.<ref name=Katz>{{cite news |last = Katz |first = Carissa |year = 2003 |title = Something Was Filmed in the Hamptons |newspaper = East Hampton Star }}</ref>

As the business grew Garten employed local chefs and bakers including [[Anna Pump]] (who later bought Loaves & Fishes Specialty Food Store and the Bridgehampton Inn). Celebrity clientele such as [[Steven Spielberg]] praised the shop in the press.<ref>{{Cite web |url = http://marthamoments.blogspot.com/2008/10/ina-garten-better-known-perhaps-as.html |title = MARTHA MOMENTS: Ina Garten: Back to Basics |date = October 15, 2008 }}</ref>

In 1996, after two decades of operating Barefoot Contessa, Garten again found herself seeking a change; she sold the store to two employees, Amy Forst and Parker Hodges.<ref name = Fischer/> She retained ownership of the building itself. Unsure of what career step to take after selling the store, she took a one year [[sabbatical]] from the culinary scene and built an office for herself above the store. There, she studied the [[stock market]] and attempted to sketch out plans for potential business ventures. At the time, her website, Barefoot Contessa, became a high-profile business as she began offering her coffees and a few other items for purchase online.

By 2003, Barefoot Contessa had become a landmark gathering place for East Hampton; director [[Nancy Meyers]] chose the store as one of the sets for the [[Jack Nicholson]]-[[Diane Keaton]] film ''[[Something's Gotta Give (film)|Something's Gotta Give]]''.<ref name=Katz/> The store was permanently closed in 2003 when the property lease expired and negotiations failed between Garten (still the owner of the building) and the new owners.<ref>{{cite news |last = Rosenbaum |first = Susan |year = 2003 |title = Barefoot Contessa Store Is No More |newspaper = East Hampton Star }}</ref>  Garten did not reopen the shop but kept the property for potential new tenants. {{As of|2024}}, it houses a [[Rag & Bone]] location.<ref name = Fischer/>