When Brenda Vargas arrived in Ames, she traveled to Des Moines to shop for groceries because the products she liked weren’t available in Ames.

“When I got here, there was nothing, absolutely nothing,” said Vargas, junior in animal ecology.

A few years later, things have changed as minority populations have grown. Los Pericos, La Costena, Ma Ling and Meiji are just a few international brands consumers can now find in grocery stores.

Carl Haidar, manager of store operations at the Lincoln Center Hy-Vee, 640 Lincoln Way, said the store is continually trying to expand its selection to cater to minorities. The store has Mexican and Asian ethnic foods available.

“We have a distributor that deals with specialty items, and we usually contact them if we have any items requested,” he said.

Even more ethnic foods could be lining Hy-Vee’s shelves in the future, Haidar said.

“We’ve had a few requests to do Indian and we’re trying to possibly work on that, but nothing is really final,” he said.

Vargas said the change is welcome.

“I think that’s really good that they’re getting that because it just shows that there are more and more Latinos,” she said.

The changes are driven by economics and not simply a result of businesses wanting to help, said Roy Salcedo, program assistant for the ISU Honors Program.

Economically driven change isn’t negative, he said, because it opens a line of communication between business people and their customers.

“It helps. Then they start knowing the people and understanding,” he said.

Stereotypes start breaking down when people learn by having the opportunity to talk about their misconceptions, he said.

Grocery stores aren’t the only ones working to meet the community’s changing needs.

City government continues to look for ways to help citizens, said Mayor Ted Tedesco.

“We try to provide contacts for people who may have language issues,” Tedesco said. “We do print things in other languages, particularly Spanish, now.”

In the years Salcedo has lived in Ames, he said, he’s seen positive changes. The Ames Police Department hands out information printed in Spanish. Channel 12, the local access channel, broadcasts programs in Spanish to help Spanish-speaking citizens learn their rights and the resources available to them in Ames, Salcedo said.

Salcedo said the Ames city government is more proactive than cities such as Marshalltown and Des Moines.

Jason Smolka, senior in electrical engineering, said he’s noticed small things like the occasional mass in Spanish at St. Thomas Aquinas or postings for English as a Second Language classes.

These things are more indicative of an expanding population than seeing people on the street, he said.

Local schools have offered ESL classes for many years, said Shaeley Santiago, ESL teacher at Ames High School.

“We have students from all over the world,” she said. “I think that’s partly because of Iowa State.”

The program serves students that speak around 15 different languages, though classes are conducted entirely in English.

Changes in Ames will most likely continue, Salcedo said.

“As families start growing, there’s going to be more of a demand,” he said.