Since last summer, some chain superstores in State College have been stocking their shelves with various products aimed at the growing Latin American community.

With continuing success, some stores are looking to keep and expand their lines of such products.

Mark Coppolo, store manager at Barnes and Noble Booksellers, 365 Benner Pike, said his store began carrying national magazines, like People, in Spanish a few years ago and have had a good amount of interested customers look at and buy the merchandise. "We started because of the area we're in being a broad demographic," he said.

Sam Richards, senior lecturer in sociology, said stores in State College are following a national trend. "We know the Hispanic population is growing. Stores are catering to that."

Wei-Ming Bogardus, manager of Wal-Mart, 1665 N. Atherton St., said the store increased shelving space in its Latin American food section to three times what it was before.

Karen Burk, spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said the Latin American merchandise, such as food and literature, is appearing because people are requesting it. "We strive to be a store of the community. The products reflect what customers in the particular community are wanting," she said.

Sandy Detwiler, store manager at Target, 315 Lowes Blvd., said she does not believe that the population is big enough to begin to carry products intended for the Latin American community in State College. "We have not been designated nationally as a store that will carry such products in the near future, even though we do have other stores in the South and near big cities that carry magazines in Spanish."

Richards said the Latin American population in the area has a great deal to do with Penn State's influence on the community. "There are pockets of Latinos that just pop up," he said. "We have a pocket because of the university."

Currently there are 1,270 Latin American students enrolled at Penn State University Park as compared to the 715 that were in enrolled in1993, Richards said.

Coppolo said that given the college setting of the area, merchants should not overlook the other languages and cultures that have a bigger influence.

"I wish we had the resources to get books and magazines in French and the various Asian languages that are common in the area," he said.