It began when Ada Alicia Giron noticed people were eager to buy the books she displayed next to the TVs that her husband repaired at their shop on 18th Street in Pilsen.
They transformed the business into a bookstore to serve Chicago’s Spanish-speaking immigrant population, expanding at one point to 10 stores. Today, it includes Libreria Giron at 3547 W. 26th St. and Giron Books at 2141 W. 21st St., and Giron Spanish Book Distributors, in the back, which sells to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart.
Mrs. Giron, who built the business and used it to support her family of seven children, died Thursday at AMITA Health Hinsdale hospital of complications from a stroke, according to her son Juan. She was 83.
In 1957, she and her husband Julio took over a toy store at 1335 W. 18th St. where he fixed the vacuum-tube TVs and radios of the era.
Mrs. Giron, who’d been a grade-school teacher in her native Guatemala, loved to read. So she would send away for Spanish-language books.
After reading them, “She would place them on the window next to the TVs, and to her surprise, she started selling the books,” her son said.
“She said, ‘Whoa, these people in the Hispanic community are coming, and they have nothing to read,’ ” said her daughter Ada.
“She said, ‘Why don’t we put books in here?’ ” said another daughter, Patty. “Because there were basically no Spanish books at the time.”
Mrs. Giron “decided to take a risk and write to a publisher and see if they would sell her more Spanish books,” her son said.
The Girons added Spanish-language greeting cards, and soon “there was a line to get in the store for Mother’s Day cards and Christmas cards,” their son said.
She sold works by her favorite author, Colombian literary giant Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and also stocked Dante and Shakespeare, her daughters said.
Business really took off when they added records, magazines, comics, romance novels, books on herbal remedies and Mexican newspapers including Excelsior and Reforma. Customers could even buy Maja perfume from Spain.
They carried recordings by Julio Iglesias, ranchera icon Jose Alfredo Jimenez, singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel and Vicente Fernandez, “El Idolo de Mexico,” and collaborations between Eydie Gorme and Los Panchos.
Celebrities would come in to promote their books and TV shows, including comedian George Lopez, journalists Jorge Ramos and Maria Antonieta Collins, entertainer Don Francisco of TV’s “Sabado Gigante” and singer Jose Jose.
The Girons expanded their business, including satellites on Cermak Road, North Avenue, Armitage Avenue and in Logan Square. Mrs. Giron and her husband thought it was better to buy than pay rent, so they bought the buildings that housed them.
After her husband died in a car accident in 1979, she discovered she was pregnant with daughter Lissie, her seventh child. “He died in February, and the baby was born in September,” Ada Ramirez said.
Mrs. Giron kept the business going.
“She was my hero,” Patty Garcia said.
“She inspired us,” Ada Ramirez said.
Young Ada Alicia grew up in the town of Guazacapan. Offered a nursing school scholarship, “She gave that up to come to the United States,” her son said. “She felt this was the land of dreams.”
After coming to Chicago, she met her future husband, also from Guatemala. The Girons raised their family at 18th Street and Blue Island Avenue. When her husband died, she moved to 26th Street and Central Park Avenue.
Their children went to Lourdes, St. Ignatius and St. Rita high schools. Mrs. Giron kept a close eye to keep them from getting into trouble. “She timed us because she knew how long it took us from the school to the store and from store to store,” Ada Ramirez said.
In her 70s, Mrs. Giron took Microsoft Excel classes and obtained a real estate license. “I need to know what the attorneys are telling me at these closings,” she told her children.
Until her stroke in May, “She was still doing all my paperwork at the bookstore,” Patty Garcia said.
Even as her health declined, when her kids played her favorite music, Guatemalan marimba, “Her feet would immediately dance back and forth,” her son said.
In addition to her children Juan, Patty, Ada and Lissie, Mrs. Giron is survived by her daughter Carmencita, sons Julio and Alfonso, sister Dora Jimenez, 22 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Visitation is from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Hallowell & James Funeral Home in Countryside. A funeral mass is planned at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Agnes of Bohemia Catholic Church, 2651 S. Central Park Ave.
