Closing the Books : Store With One of the City’s Widest Selections of Spanish Literature Will Shut Its Doors Soon

A Los Angeles bookstore with one of the widest varieties of Spanish-language literature in the city is going out of business, eliminating an important source for Spanish teachers, library officials and just plain lovers of the language.

The closing in about a month of the Spanish & European Bookstore in the Mid-Wilshire district is “a tremendous blow to the community,” said Spanish teacher Roger King, who relies on the store for textbooks for his classes and private tutoring lessons.

“It’s more than just a bookstore to me. It’s a place to meet people and others who love languages,” King said.

The owner of the store, Ephrem Compte, admitted Thursday that it was a tough decision to close the business he started 10 years ago across the street on Wilshire Boulevard.

“People don’t want me to close, but there are choices that have to be made,” Compte said.

A native of Barcelona, Compte, 70, had a stroke in June. His doctor gave him a simple choice: Give up the store or give up on life.

The store, a block from the Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue subway station, has been successful, with a net profit of about $100,000 annually.

For that and other reasons, the decision was hard on him because, he said, the store has consumed him. “The only thing I don’t do here is sleep,” he said as he inspected the dwindling inventory of books on the shelves.

He put the store up for sale, but no viable offers have been received. Compte said he has no relatives locally to bequeath the store to. “I have a nephew in Spain, but he’s got a good job with a bank,” he said. Although no exact date has been set, Compte said it is likely that the store will close for good in a month.

The store has a faithful clientele who enjoy its wide variety of books.

“It has a tremendous selection of textbooks for kids and adults who want to learn Spanish,” Hacienda Heights Spanish teacher Rudy Fuentes said. “Whenever I need a certain book, I go there. I don’t know where I’ll go now to find that hard-to-find book once this place closes.”

Unlike other area Spanish-language bookstores that seem to concentrate on books with political themes or social issues, Compte offers a varied selection, not just the Spanish bestsellers. Books can range from the classics of Cervantes to children’s tales and how to deal with a bulging waistline.

There’s even a how-to-learn Spanish book with a title aimed at certain Americans: “Spanish for Gringos.”

Particularly distressed by the store’s closing are area library officials who have come to rely on Compte.

“He’s been very supportive of us,” said Chris Metro, a senior librarian at the city’s Felipe De Neve branch. “He puts up fliers for library services in his store. He’s very knowledgeable about publishing in Spanish.”

Sylva Manoogian, the Central Library’s manager of international languages, said, “[His store] is an excellent source for books in Spanish.”

Then, noting the irony that a Spanish-language book store would close in increasingly Latino Los Angeles, she said: “Really, we’re not lacking for sources for books. But [the idea of] the hometown bookstore will be missing.”

To be sure, there are other Spanish-language bookstores in Los Angeles, but it won’t be the same for steady customers such as schoolteacher Fuentes.

“He’s a unique man who takes the time to find a book,” Fuentes said. “He’ll be missed.”