Downtown Ames offers students a different avenue of shopping.

Chamber of Commerce Program Manager Chad Cardani said the business owners love to have Iowa State University students visit their shops.

“It’s a down home shopping experience,” he said. “You see smiles in the stores, they like to have people just stop in and look around.”

Cardani said shop owners will answer any questions and don’t place a lot of sales pressure on people. “They’re genuinely interested in the people,” he said.

The Main Street area has shops for travel, hardware, furniture, music, books and clothes, along with cafes and coffee shops.

“You can get anything you want downtown,” Cardani said.

Alphabet Soup

Specializing in unique toys from around the world, Alphabet Soup is a great place for breaking study blues, getting in touch with one’s creative side or just killing time.

Manager Doreen Wass said the store carries toys for everyone from infants to college students.

Aerobie flying rings for outdoor recreation and resource books for child development students are among their stock, she said.

They also sell Hello Kitty items, stickers, stamps, bubbles, bug collecting kits, bug houses and other goofy items for the kid in every student.

Worldly Goods

With authentic handcrafts from villages around the world, Worldly Goods is a nice shop for buying gifts or finding unusual trinkets.

The store, a non-profit organization, works toward providing world artisans with fair incomes in exchange for their goods.

Every salesperson at Worldly Goods is a volunteer.

Baskets from the Philippines, Peruvian ceramics, jewelry from India and Kenyan soapstone carvings, among others, fill the store.

An in-store catalog also offers an expanded inventory for special orders.

“I was looking through it saying, gee, I’d like to order all of these,” said Tanya Zanish-Belcher, a volunteer at Worldly Goods. “It is overwhelming.”

The Hobby Shop

The Hobby Shop on Main Street, owned by Doug Samson, carries collectors’ items like magic cards and coins, as well as model kits and raw materials for making models.

“Everything in here you have to assemble,” Samson said.

For university students, especially those in programs such as design or architecture, Samson said woods and plastics for building models are popular items.

He also carries raw metals such as brass that students can mold into jewelry or other items they need to make projects for classes.

The Pumpkin Patch

Any Beanie Baby fan should put The Pumpkin Patch on his or her list of places to stop.

Aside from bins full of Beanies, the store carries items like kites, kazoos, plastic snakes and frogs, baby clothes and educational games.

The games include “Land Ho!,” a game in Spanish and English about the discovery of America, and “Where in the World?,” an up-to-date geography game.

The shop also has a live attraction, a gray cat named Shadrack.

Hang It Up

For decorating bare dorm or apartment walls, Hang It Up carries a wide stock of fun art posters and frames.

The shop, which just opened a few months ago, has had good response from students moving in so far, employee Denise Bauer said.

Among the more popular prints have been Seinfeld, Got Beer?, Got Cookies?, sports, Picasso and Monet.

“It’s really a well-rounded store,” she said.

They can special order almost anything students have seen somewhere if it isn’t already in the shop.

Hang It Up also carries Uni-frame, a line of adjustable picture frames that will fit almost any print.

Michael’s Cyclery

Whether it’s finding a way to get around campus faster or searching for equipment for a weekend camping adventure, Michael’s Cyclery may be able to help.

Although their primary stock is bicycles, they also carry skis, rollerblades, camping supplies and hammocks.

Employee Jeff Halliburton said bicycles, helmets and bike locks are items many students are buying now because “a lot of people leave that kind of thing at home.”

They also carry Columbia winter clothing. “So once it gets cold, which it will, this is the place to come,” Halliburton said.