Wheatsfield Grocery celebrated its 30th birthday in August, adding one more milestone to the natural food cooperative’s long, winding journey.

The grocery store, 413 Douglas Ave., started humbly, when in 1974 a group of Ames residents that found it difficult to obtain natural and organic foods in the community banded together to increase their buying power for hard-to-find items, said Linda Johnson, general manager of the store. The co-op was created in part to serve people who have certain dietary issues that require them to eat natural foods.

“The members own this store, and we exist for their needs, whatever that may be,” Johnson said.

Anyone who is a member owns part of the business so he or she can have a voice in how it is run, Johnson said. However, store members vote for a seven-member board of directors that determines the vision and future of the store and how it does business, Johnson said.

In the 1970s, the people who were involved in the business were called working members. These were members of the store, and all of the labor was volunteer. Not until the 1980s did the store start to pay employees, and, even then, there were only two, said Stacey Brown, the store’s produce manager.

The group first operated the store in what is now Alumni Hall. A year after forming, it became incorporated as the Mutual Aid Food Association, then evolved into Wheatsfield, Brown said.

Since then, co-op membership has doubled, Johnson said.

“We have changed a lot over the years — almost three years ago we had half of the space that we have now,” Brown said.

In 2001, the shop’s walls were knocked down to nearly double the floor space of the 413 Douglas Ave. location. With that expansion came a tripling of its inventory, with shelves of vitamins, new bulk bins and more produce.

All Wheatsfield employees have a strong knowledge of what is going on in the natural food industry, Brown said. Also, the store has a diverse selection of products, with variety and different departments.

“We have a sense of community here because we are member owned, which sets us apart from other businesses in the Ames area,” Johnson said.