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GREENSBORO - When Elisa Bronson came to Greensboro 22 years ago, getting a taste of her native Mexico proved nearly impossible.

"The only place in town that had tortillas was the Kroger on High Point Road," Bronson remembered. "They were terrible."

But for a city with a Hispanic population of less than 2,000 people according to the 1990 census, a smattering of stores sufficed.

Since then, the city's Hispanic population has ballooned more than 800 percent, with more than 16,500 Latinos now calling Greensboro home.

Statewide, the number has increased from about 77,000 people in 1990 to almost 600,000 people, according to 2006 census data. Hispanics now account for close to 7 percent of the state's population.

The city that once had only one store carrying tortillas now boasts dozens.

That's not all. Corners across the city feature bridal shops and bakeries, grocery and apparel stores, cell phone shops and car audio dealers, all targeting the purchasing power of the state's fastest growing demographic.

A population boom

Bronson witnessed the explosion from her post behind a cash register.

She opened a variety store, Mundo Hispano, at Spring Garden Street and Holden Road 14 years ago, offering the flavor and fragrance of home to the city's modest Latino population.

"At that time, no one had a store for Spanish people," Bronson said. "I decided we had enough people to have a grocery store."

Some of the newcomers are immigrants who followed job possibilities. "Immigrant populations tend to be more mobile and follow the growth in any region," said David Flores, president and CEO of Nuestro Banco, a Hispanic community bank in Raleigh.

Others - about 40 percent, Flores said - are migrants from within the United States who moved to North Carolina from states such as California, Texas and New York looking for jobs and a lower cost of living.

Aide García moved to Greensboro from California, leaving behind a career in a tanking real estate market to chase the dream of owning her own business.

She opened Conexion Hispana, an authorized Verizon retailer, on High Point Road 10 months ago.

The choice to sell phones and accessories was simple: "Everyone uses them," she said.

And her Mexican heritage gives her an edge in servicing Latino customers, García said. Her bilingual abilities expand her potential customer pool. Her business cards, cross-pollinated in nearby businesses, are printed in English and Spanish.

"Hispanics know I'm someone with the same language, the same culture," she said. "I'm Mexican, I know my people."

Filling the void

With the state's burgeoning Hispanic population, it was only a matter of time until entrepreneurs started targeting the growing market, one that is expected to have $18 billion in buying power by 2009 if migration trends continue, according to researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill.

"The purchasing power of Hispanics is increasing more than the population growth rate," Flores said.

And often it's immigrants - a group, experts say, that tends to more entrepreneurial - who are stepping in to fill the retail voids.

The entrepreneurial spirit springs from the immigrants' native lands.

"What you have is a system and an economic model that is more based at the local, rural level," Flores said. "It's based in the culture to start your own businesses because there are no large employers in those small towns. Those are the characteristics that are driving the growth ... as the Hispanic community continues to grow."

Eduardo Lopez's path to entrepreneurship included a brush with desperation.

Lopez, who owns Xtravaganzza Sound Systems on High Point Road, immigrated to the United States from Mexico about a decade ago, finding work in front of blazing ovens and soapy sinks in local restaurants.

"Trying to save money," he said.

But lean times came, and he found himself with no money for rent. He gathered shoes and other items from his car - anything he thought might sell - and took them to a flea market in Mebane.

There he found success, especially with some of his stereo equipment, technology he was familiar with from a job back in Mexico.

Soon, customers sought him out, asking if he'd look at their car radios, speakers and CD players.

Lopez became a regular at the flea market, working his restaurant jobs Monday through Friday and spending Sundays selling for himself. In 2005, after two years at the flea market, he opened Xtravaganzza with his brother.

And though he works seven days a week, Lopez feels like he's carved out a bit of the American dream for himself.

"Now, I have my business," he said.

The 'multiplier effect'

Lopez's startup is one of thousands of Hispanic-owned businesses created in the past six years.

In 2002, there were 9,000 Hispanic-owned small businesses in North Carolina, Flores said. Now, there are an estimated 20,000 to 25,000.

The growth in Hispanic retail has ramifications both inside and outside the Latino demographic.

"Those of us who are involved with changes in demographics and immigration, we understand the natural flow of immigrants from peddlers to painters to professionals, so to speak," said Nolo Martinez, assistant director for UNCG's Center for New North Carolinians.

And with the increases in the Hispanic population and Hispanic-owned businesses comes economic growth that Martinez calls the "multiplier effect."

"I'm a very strong believer in small business entrepreneurial startups," he said. "That's the engine that brings jobs, that brings new tax revenue to the cities."

In recent years, big box retailers have also started to tap into the Hispanic market, for example, adding grocery items and music targeting the demographic.

"You go to Mexico, and you see Walmart and you see Sam's and you see Home Depot," Martinez said.

But from Lucio Sosa's viewpoint, larger retailers aren't a concern.

"We're not too worried about Walmart or other stores that carry Mexican products," said Sosa, who works at La Milagrosa Tienda Hispana on High Point Road.

"They have just the basics, but we have everything. We have certain brands that they don't carry, plus certain styles of clothes like cowboy and Western wear that you can't find at those stores."

And for Latinos, like all other consumers, price and variety are the primary concerns when shopping, he said.

"I like to go to Walmart for a lot of things, but I also like going to Hispanic meat markets and stores like this for specialized goods," Sosa said.

In the future, the emerging Hispanic retail market is likely to have an impact beyond the Latino community, experts predict.

Over time, as business owners overcome language and cultural barriers, they will begin to reach out to the broader marketplace, said Carlos Siercke , the executive director of the N.C. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

"When they see that you are leaving out the biggest chunk of people for your business, you start venturing out to other communities," he said.

And as the goods and services start to appeal to the broader market, it will ultimately cultivate a more diverse community, Martinez said.

"That happened in places like Texas and California," he said, "where tacos and different things are just normal to the everyday life of businesses, regardless of if you sell it in English or Spanish."

Staff writer Robert Lopez and news researcher Diane Lamb contributed to this report.

Contact Lanita Withers at 373-7071 or lanita.withers@news-record.com