When Norma Lopez, the mayor of Montebello, CA, asked Reubén Martínez to open a new branch of his Librería Martínez bookstore chain in her town, Martínez didn't hesitate.

"Big bookstore chains and store owners have passed up the chance to open a store in this community of hard-working, mostly immigrant families. But where they may see a liability, I see a big opportunity," he tells Críticas.

The branch will provide a new opportunity for Montebello's 60,000 plus residents, who have never had a local bookstore before. Martínez is looking at a 6,500-square-foot location on Wittier and Montebello Streets, at the town's most trafficked intersection. The city has made redeveloping the area a priority, and is building a huge shopping center across the street from the prospective bookstore site. Though the store will have books in Spanish for the town's population, which is 74% Latino, it will also provide books in English and other languages for the sizable Korean and Armenian communities.

Martínez hopes to open the branch later this year, even though he just moved into a new 9,000-square-foot second store in Lynwood, CA, last February. The former barber opened his first store, a successful often crammed institution that many see as a milestone in Spanish-language book selling, in Santa Ana, CA, in 1974. Energetic and endlessly optimistic, Martínez seems to run on his passion for serving the community rather than seeing a huge profit margin. He says he has several investors interested in the three branches and in his other projects, but his efforts are mostly funded by the Small Business Administration and city grants, as well as any profits he makes from the stores. "I still drive the same, beat-up old car," he says, "but as long as we keep going it's worth it."

The Lynwood location has a 200-seat amphitheater, a coffee shop, and a substantial reading area. It is located in the brightly colored, hugely popular Plaza Mexico, which regularly attracts local events and school productions. According to Martínez, early sales numbers are strong. He hopes to model his Montebello location on Lynwood. "The key to bringing people to the stores is thinking big. If you have a small store, only a few people will come in," he says. "But if you make it big, it will seem exciting, and you'll get a bigger audience."

That audience seems ever expanding. More than 10 cities have called Martínez, requesting new branches of Librería Martínez. Yet running the bookstore is only part of his greater goal of enriching young readers. Despite a hectic schedule, he finds time to speak to library associations, universities, and student groups in places as unexpected as Fayetteville, AR. "Our major selling point is that we're the type of business that focuses on enhancing a people, not just turning a profit," he says. "We are focused on enriching the Latino population, which is growing fast. The more books these good, talented kids read, the longer they will stay in school."

One major way Martínez hopes to enrich the population is through a book fair he will hold this fall. In honor of the Guadalajara Book Fair, he'll hold La Feria de Libros y Arte on October 16–17 at the Plaza Mexico Center in Lynwood. Fifteen to 20 major Spanish-language authors, such as Sandra Cisneros, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Gioconda Belli, Carlos Fuentes, and Elena Poniatowska, are scheduled to attend the fair, which Univision and La Opinión, the largest circulation Spanish-language newspaper in the country, will sponsor. The fair will highlight author events, including panels and readings. The proposed Montebello location is blocks way from the headquarters of the city's unified school district. Martínez laughs as he describes a meeting with the school's superintendent to promote new programs. "One day our educational team just showed up at the school and asked him 'How would you like us to help you turn your city into a reading city, where kids and adults can't wait to get their hands on their next books?'" Martínez recalls. "He told me to come right in."