SANTA ANA (By Tony Barboza, LA
Times) May 7, 2008 When Ruebιn
Martinez set up his bookshop in an
old Santa Ana furniture store a
decade ago, he bargained the
landlord down to half-price rent,
saying he sold books, not diamonds.
But despite its renown as one of the
nation's largest Latino-themed
bookstores, Librerνa Martinez, owned
by the barber-turned-MacArthur
Foundation "genius grant" winner,
may be forced to close by year's
end.
Sales are down 50% from a year ago
and bills are piling up. A new
landlord, the Orange County High
School of the Arts, which wants to
use the store for classrooms, has
given Martinez a year to find a new
location.
"I knew I was never going to get
rich selling books," Martinez said.
"But the crowds are not what they
used to be."
The store that began as a shelf in
Martinez's barbershop in 2093 has
grown into a local institution with
an international draw, bringing in
hundreds of authors, such as
literary giants Isabel Allende,
Julia Alvarez and Carlos Fuentes and
high-profile speakers, including
Nobel Peace Prize-winning Costa Rica
President Oscar Arias.
Anchored by Martinez's mission to
get people of all ages to read, in
English or Spanish the store has
prospered as a community center,
holding English and music classes,
and where residents can attend a
poetry reading or pick up a book or
magazine.
A sign outside commands "‘Todos a
Leer!" Let's Read, Everyone!
They may be reading, but lately
they're not buying enough.
Martinez's troubles mirror those
familiar to nearly every independent
bookshop: rising rent, fewer people
buying books, and competition from
online and big-box retailers that
can offer discounts.
The Brentwood literary landmark
Dutton's closed last month. Another
Latino bookstore, Tia Chucha's in
the San Fernando Valley, last year
had to move after the landlord
tripled the rent and replaced it
with a laundromat.
"We don't have bookstores in most
neighborhoods in the L.A. area,"
said owner Luis Rodriguez.
"Everybody talks about how literacy
is so important, so there's got to
be ways to help with rent
subsidies."
Martinez's store, a single-story red
tile-roof building with
floor-to-ceiling glass windows, is
on downtown Santa Ana's Main Street,
surrounded by office buildings. An
alley separates the shop from its
children's section in a building
next door. Cars whiz by, but there
is little foot traffic.
Santa Ana, the center of Orange
County's Spanish-speaking immigrant
community, is an area where some
might see limited economic
opportunity.
Martinez saw a platform to promote
reading to a young and growing
population.
A barber by training, Martinez
garnered national attention when the
MacArthur Foundation in 2004 awarded
him a $500,000 fellowship for
promoting literacy. The money,
spread out over five years and not
restricted in its use, has gone to
start a nonprofit that offers
after-school classes and tutoring.
He has used some of the grant to pay
the store's bills.
Martinez, 68, with thick, graying
hair, a robust mustache and
frameless glasses, holds the heavy
glass door for customers and picks
up trash on the sidewalk outside.
On a recent afternoon, he dug
through crowded shelves with both
hands, offering up titles of
self-help books, Danielle Steel
novels, Bibles and Latin American
poetry. A John Grisham novel,
translated into Spanish, sits next
to English translations of essays by
Mexican intellectuals.
He picks up "Don Quixote." "This
book was written 400 years ago," he
said. "It's dead until you open it
up."
His usually animated voice lowers
when asked about the prospect of
closing.
Months ago his accountant gave him a
dire forecast: The store would have
to close in three to six months if
sales don't pick up dramatically.
After keeping it to himself for
months, a distressed Martinez last
month confessed his predicament to a
longtime customer, who alerted the
Spanish-language media.
The news has alarmed and
disheartened many of the city's
residents and leaders.
"It's not just a business, it's a
place that opens doors for young
people to find literature that
speaks to them," said Santa Ana
Councilman Sal Tinajero. "We need to
preserve this gem that we have in
our city."
Leila Mozaffari, director of the
Orange County Small Business
Development Center, is on an
informal committee of community
business leaders who have rallied
around Martinez to give guidance to
try to save his store.
"He's been known as a pillar of the
community. So many people have gone
to him for help," she said. "He
might have thought that he was
letting everybody down if he was
needing some assistance."
The declining revenue is already
taking its toll.
For lack of funds, Martinez's booth
was absent from the Los Angeles
Times Festival of Book and last
year's Feria del Libro. He usually
attends those book fairs.
Daniel Parra, general manager of
Girσn Books, a Chicago distributor
of books in Spanish, said Martinez
used to be one of his biggest
customers, placing new orders nearly
every week. Now he goes months
without ordering.
"To be honest, at some point I don't
know if Martinez can continue as a
bookstore," Parra said. "He might
have to become some other kind of
cultural organization."
Martinez said he was determined not
to lay off any of his eight
employees in Santa Ana or at his
satellite store in Lynwood, which is
also suffering.
He has been paying rent from his
personal savings and maintaining a
hectic schedule of speaking
engagements at colleges and
universities, using the proceeds to
sustain the stores. The stress of
losing money, he said, has given him
a literal pain in the neck.
Now that Martinez's plight is
public, people are taking notice.
Customers he hasn't seen in more
than a year are stopping by,
apologetically making purchases. One
woman sent a check for $50. "From a
well-wisher. I'd hate to see you go
under," she wrote.
San Antonio-based author Sandra
Cisneros, a friend and fellow
MacArthur grant winner, hopes to
make a special appearance to support
the store.
"It's a literary center for the
Latino community," Cisneros said.
"Any writer will tell you they'll do
anything for this bookstore."
City officials, calling the prospect
of the store closing a "red flag,"
are instructing the public library
to buy more of its Spanish-language
books from Martinez.
"The bookstore is part of my family.
The old books are like my
grandparents," Martinez said,
holding a barbering textbook
published the year he was born.
In the back office of the bookstore,
Martinez sits in a vintage
steel-and-leather barber's chair, a
gift from an admirer to remind him
of his 30 years of cutting hair.
Books are stacked on a couch, and
the walls are neatly lined with
awards and honorary diplomas.
"To close the store, you'll have to
tear my heart out," he said.
"Because I won't let go."
