Ritmo Latino was a Latin-oriented retail music chain. It currently exists as a T-Mobile franchise partner under the name Ritmo Latino Wireless. From 1989 until 2010, Ritmo operated its music retail stores across the United States, primarily in Hispanic areas. With 53 stores at its peak, Ritmo was the largest Latin music chain in the United States.[1][2]

Ritmo Latino
Company typeMusic retailer
IndustryRetail
Founded1989 (as a music retail chain, defunct 2010)
FounderDavid Massry
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California, USA
ProductsDVDs, CDs, videos, video games, posters, books, collectibles, and accessories.
WebsiteArchived official website at the Wayback Machine (archive index)

History

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In 1989, David Massry opened the first Ritmo Latino store in Santa Ana, California. He named it Ritmo Latino (Spanish for “Latin Rhythm”) in order to appeal to its Hispanic customer base.

Ritmo Latino has been noted by its ability to provide innovative services and experiences to its customers that were not typically provided by niche music stores at that time. Ritmo expanded its business model in 1992, by becoming an authorized Ticketmaster vendor to provide additional services to its customers in all of its stores, and in 1998, by introducing the first Spanish Book Department in its store in Santa Ana.

In 1999, the first Ritmo Rock opened in Los Angeles. Ritmo Rock is a store concept dedicated to Latin and English rock, something Massry called “a niche within a niche.”[3]

In 2000, Ritmo Latino sponsored the first Premio de la Gente awards, which was created to award Latin music based on fans votes. The show was nationally televised with Uno Productions. Although Ritmo Latino no longer sponsors the show, it continues to air annually on Telemundo.[3]

Ritmo Latino continued to innovate by incorporating interactive technology into its stores. In 2001, Ritmo began putting Video Arcade rooms in its stores. In 2003, Ritmo's store in Miami became the first Latin music store to implement interactive listening stations. The listening stations were such a success that the company adopted the technology into all of its stores.[3] In 2005, Ritmo launched an educational computer software line specifically designed for the Spanish speaking market.

By 2007, Ritmo had 52 stores in the U.S., in states such as California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Florida, Washington D.C., Maryland, and New Jersey. They opened 3 new stores inside El Gallo Giro Restaurants and launched the first Tus Perfumenes, a store within a store concept dedicated to selling a full line of perfumes, in Oakland. Ritmo also received notable media attention when it accused Jennifer Lopez of not supporting her Latin heritage because she would not make public appearances promoting her album Como Ama una Mujer at any Latin-oriented music chain. Ritmo further garnered attention by banning all of Lopez's CDs from its stores.[4]

As the music retail industry declined, so did Ritmo Latino. In 2008, Ritmo Latino inaugurated their first transition to T-Mobile store in El Monte, CA, and opened 2 more stores by year's end. In 2009, Ritmo opened an additional 13 T-Mobile stores, including stores in the Northern California, Houston, and Washington D.C. markets, bring the total T-Mobile store count to 16.

The last Ritmo Latino music store closed in July 2010, and Ritmo Latino Inc was officially dissolved by the end of 2011.

Handprint collection

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Ritmo Latino was well known for owning the largest collection of Latin celebrity cement handprints in the US.

Celebrities in the collection:

  1. Ricky Martin
  2. Juan Gabriel
  3. Shakira
  4. Enrique Iglesias
  5. Vicente Fernández
  6. Marc Anthony
  7. Marco Antonio Solís
  8. Juanes
  9. Celia Cruz
  10. Fher (Maná)
  11. Chayanne
  12. Joan Sebastian
  13. Ana Gabriel
  14. Alex Gonzales (Maná)
  15. Cristian
  16. Alejandro Fernández
  17. José José
  18. Ricardo Arjona
  19. Thalía
  20. Alejandro Sanz
  21. Julio Iglesias
  22. Daddy Yankee
  23. Gloria Trevi
  24. Alejandro Sanz
  25. Julio Iglesias
  26. Daddy Yankee
  27. Paulina Rubio
  28. Alejandra Guzmán
  29. Saúl Hernández
  30. Álex Lora
  31. Tito Puente
  32. Elvis Crespo
  33. Amanda Miguel
  34. Pedro Fernández
  35. Emmanuel
  36. Yahir
  37. Jerry Rivera
  38. Raúl di Blasio
  39. Rogelio Martínez [es]
  40. Nelson Ned
  41. Álvaro Torres
  42. Gilberto Santa Rosa
  43. José María Napoleón
  44. Ramiro Delgado (Bronco)
  45. Javier Bronco (Bronco)
  46. Choche Man (Bronco)
  47. José Guadalupe Esparza (Bronco)
  48. Juan Calleros (Maná)
  49. Segio Vallin (Maná)

References

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  1. ^ "Ritmo Latino Closes Its Doors". 9 August 2010.
  2. ^ "Latin music retailer closes its doors after 20 years". 7 August 2010 – via Reuters.
  3. ^ a b c Inc, Nielsen Business Media (19 June 2004). "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. – via Google Books. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ Woog, Adam (15 August 2017). Jennifer Lopez. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438106816 – via Google Books.