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Ethnic grocery stores offer taste of home or something new

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

La Fiesta Mexicana is a popular ethnic grocery store that fills the needs of the area Hispanic community.

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Andres Torres stocks the shelves near a rack of Spanish language magazines at La Fiesta.

JANESVILLE — The smell of spicy meat permeates the tiny grocery store on Main and Racine streets.

Brimming shelves offer canned goods with brand names such as “Goya” and “La Morena,” along with spices and produce you don’t find at your average grocery store.

Customers murmur “perdoname” or “excuse me” as they squeeze through the narrow aisles to order chorizo sausage from the butcher or pick up some fresh tomatillos.

Soccer jerseys and piñatas hang gaily from the ceiling, welcoming patrons to this little slice of Hispanic culture.

Janesville’s handful of ethnic grocery stores—most of them Hispanic—have found a niche offering unique products and proving gathering spots for immigrant communities and fans of international cuisine.

Jose Maravilla, general manager of La Fiesta Mexicana, 425 S. Main St., estimates about 90 percent of his customers are Hispanic. Spanish is the dominant language spoken, though Maravilla and many of his customers also speak English. Spanish-language music offers a soundtrack to shoppers, and a TV in the tiny taqueria—taco restaurant—in back plays Spanish-language telenovelas, soap operas.

Cesar Albarran was visiting the store recently with his wife to pick up chorizo and chicharron, seasoned pork rinds. Albarran was born in Mexico but moved to the United States 10 years ago, he said.

He does his main shopping at other grocery stores but stops at La Fiesta Mexicana once a week to buy things he can’t get at those stores, he said.

“In Janesville, we don’t have too many Mexican grocery stores,” he said.

Maravilla and his family opened the store about seven years ago, he said.

“There are a lot of Mexican people (in Janesville),” Maravilla said. “Usually they’d go to Beloit” for Mexican products.

The number of Hispanic residents in Rock County has been steadily climbing in the years since La Fiesta Mexicana opened. Hispanics made up about 5.8 percent of the county’s population in 2006, up from 3.9 percent in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Asian community in Rock County is smaller—about 2 percent of the population in 2006—but Asian Grocery at 1905 Center Ave., Janesville, still does well enough. The store attracts customers of Asian, African and European heritage, manager Kimthy Tes said.

The store sells products from all over Asia, focusing on the southeastern portion of the continent. Spacious, orderly aisles in the brightly lit store offer pad Thai sauce, canned bamboo shoots, and rice paper along with non-food items such as rugs, clothes, rice cookers and china dishes.

Kimthy, who was born in Cambodia, recognizes his regular customers when they come in.

“The majority, we know each other, because they come here so often,” he said. “They shop here because they know what they want, they know what they like (and) they know what they’re used to eating.”

Indeed, a specific brand of ingredient can make all the difference in some recipes, said Maximo Arriaga, co-owner of La Esquinita restaurant and grocery store at 401 W. Milwaukee St., Janesville.

Arriaga opened the store eight years ago, when there were no other Mexican grocery stores in Janesville, he said. Since then, he’s seen his customer base rise as the number of Hispanic people in Janesville inches up and customers from outside Janesville hear about the store, he said.

Many non-Hispanics are discovering the store, too, Arriaga said. He estimates just over half of his customers are Hispanic.

“A lot of customers really come because they find things that they don’t find anywhere else,” he said.