Periodicos Seek Readers, Shelf Space : Journalism: Outside post offices, markets and bakeries a number of Spanish-language papers are battling for circulation.

In one hand, Norma Yanez carried a sack of groceries. In the other, she gripped four periodicos and a copy of “Teleguia.”

As she walked out of the North Hollywood supermarket with her food, newspapers and television guide, Yanez said she “takes as many papers as I can. I like to read the news, the stories--especially news from Guatemala, my country.”

In heavily Latino neighborhoods in North Hollywood, Pacoima, Sun Valley and San Fernando; outside post offices, markets and bakeries called panaderias, a startling number of newspapers are battling for shelf space in what has become an increasingly competitive war of words--words in Spanish, that is.

With the debut last month of a free Spanish-language newspaper called El Universal, San Fernando Valley Latinos have two local twice-weekly publications. El Eco, which emphasizes local news in contrast to the international focus of El Universal, started three years ago.

The two are among a broad array of Spanish-language publications specializing in sports, entertainment or news that circulate in the Valley, reflecting the dramatic growth in the area’s Latino population in the past decade.

“The Valley up to this point has been devoid of a strong newspaper presence,” said John Catalani, director of Burbank-based Hispanic Media Associates, the advertising sales firm for a consortium of 85 Spanish-language publications throughout the country. “Obviously, publishers have found there was a void and if there is a void you fill it.”

The dizzying selection of Spanish-language papers in heavily Latino neighborhoods mirrors the scene at newsstands in large Latin American cities, where people are accustomed to reading numerous news publications.

“Immigrants come to this country with a background that is used to a high concentration of print media,” said Henry E. Adams, executive vice president at Market Development Inc., a San Diego research firm that specializes in Latino marketing. “There is a thirst for newspapers if they can get them.”

Booming Latino communities such as Van Nuys, where the Latino population increased 76% from 1980 to 1987; Pacoima, where the Latino population rose 55%, and Sun Valley, with a 48% increase, constitute an attractive market for Spanish-language publications, according to demographic information provided by The Times’ marketing research department and Market Statistics, which sells research material to The Times.

“It has become apparent to those of us in the publishing field that there are a substantial number of Latinos in the Valley who were not being spoken to as a community group,” said Monica Lozano-Centanino, publisher of El Eco, which is owned by La Opinion. Half of La Opinion is owned by Times Mirror Co., parent company of the Los Angeles Times. “The market is large and it may be large enough for a number of publications.”

Consider the bundles of free papers on the floor, near the telephones and stacked high on a rack at Food Bag grocery store in North Hollywood:

In addition to El Eco and El Universal, there are four other free publications and three others that can be purchased. Those for sale are La Opinion and Noticias del Mundo, both Los Angeles metropolitan newspapers, and Diario Las Americas, a Miami-based daily newspaper of Latin American news.

Those papers and others compete for a piece of the nation’s most lucrative market for Spanish-language publications. Advertisers spent $16.2 million in 1989 on print media in an area that includes San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties, according to a study by Hispanic Business magazine.

For readers such as Vilda Herrera, 32, of North Hollywood, who left the store with three papers, the publications are the prime source of reading material for her large family.

“Me, my husband, my four children, my in-laws, we all live together and every week we like to read all the papers we can,” she said. “We think it’s important to know what’s going on.”

Pedro Galvez, 22, a busboy who came to North Hollywood from Mexico three years ago, said he has relied on the local newspapers for information on where to shop, find a doctor and go to school.

Despite the booming population and a seeming supply of eager readers, the competition was too much for three local Valley publications that folded in the past two years, including the venerable El Sol of San Fernando. El Dia and La Voz published only for two months in 1988.