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.” 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. 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==