Libreria Mexico De Echo Park

This bookstore is out of business as of my visit on Sept 2, 2015. The times are changing — if major retailers like the now defunct Borders cant make it, how can a small outfit in Spanish like «Librería de México» be expected to last? I really regret it — I drove out here with such excitement to find a Spanish-​language bookstore that had more than simple children’s books in Spanish. ¡Qué lastima!

I love this place, my mom and uncles always brought me here, and now I come here with my kids. It’s a shame that not many people are supporting this place, bookstores are a dying thing sadly. They carry some of the hard to find books, that you can’t always find on the internet. They have a great selection, they also carry some old old school movies that we we grew up on, like cantinflas, Pedro infante, tin tan, ect. They do have a yarn section which is cool, and yes recently added that cell phone thing, everything is taxed now in echo park so I’m assuming they are struggling to stay open. The owner is super nice and helpful, I recommend that people come and support this book store :)

I have a love/​hate relationship with this place! The variety of Spanish literature here is amazing! They truly have a very sophisticated selection. My biggest gripe with this place though is the pricing. Books here are extremely pricey, almost every book is between $ 20 – 30. I think that is outrageous. If you were to order online from any other place you could get the same books for a fraction of the price. Recently I noticed that they have wrapped every single book that they have in clear plastic, I’m assuming to preserve them. They also have many beautiful sheaths of yarn and just about any supply needed for crocheting/​knitting/​embroidery. Some of those items are great, but again extremely over priced. Randomly this place has recently began to have a pre paid phone card section, kind of strange but whatever. The owner here is extremely nice but I hope that he realizes that with the advancement in technology the prices of books have gone down dramatically nearly everywhere else and I don’t think very many people are going to be willing to pay double the price here.

I walked over two miles from the Gold Line to get to this store early on a Saturday afternoon. They were closed and locked up despite the sign on the door that says «Abierto todos los dias.» I talked to a nearby shopkeeper who said they’ve been mostly closed the for the past two months. But another guy said he thought he’d seen them open last week. So YMMV, but call ahead if you’re trying to visit this place. There were no posted hours on the door so I couldn’t even plan my return.
I was looking forward to a good selection of spanish reading material, so I am very disappointed.