The Lure of H Mart

[Randy W]

H Mart’s original name, Han Ah Reum, is commonly translated from Korean as “an armful," though it has a poetic nuance — invoking warmth and care, as in an embrace. But to some, H Mart is simply “a beautiful, holy place."

The Lure of H Mart, Where the Shelves Can Seem as Wide as Asia
The huge grocery chain and other megastores like it have revolutionized the way many Asian-Americans shop and eat.

The first H Mart opened in 1982 in Woodside, Queens, under the name Han Ah Reum — in Korean, “an armful,” in the sense of an embrace — which the store still bears today.Credit...Lanna Apisukh for The New York Times

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Today, as they again confront hate-fueled violence, Asian-Americans are the nation’s fastest-growing racial or ethnic group, numbering more than 22 million, nearly 7 percent of the total population. And there are 102 H Marts across the land, with vast refrigerated cases devoted to kimchi and banchan, the side dishes essential to any Korean meal. In 2020, the company reported $1.5 billion in sales. Later this year, it’s set to open its largest outpost yet, in a space in Orlando, Fla., that is nearly the size of four football fields.
And H Mart has competition: Other grocery chains that specialize in ingredients from Asia include Patel Brothers (Patel Bros, to fans), founded in Chicago; and, headquartered in California, Mitsuwa Marketplace and 99 Ranch Market — or Ranch 99, as Chinese speakers sometimes call it. They’re part of a so-called ethnic or international supermarket sector estimated to be worth $46.1 billion, a small but growing percentage of the more than $653 billion American grocery industry.

Mr. Kwon’s first store still stands in Woodside, with a blue awning that bears H Mart’s original name, Han Ah Reum. This is commonly translated from Korean as “an armful,” but has a poetic nuance, invoking warmth and care, as in an embrace.

 

from the NY Times on Facebook
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[Back Again]

Ping shops at H-Mart and 99 Ranch regularly, but when she wants the best thin meats for hot pot, or the best ground pork (select a pork shoulder or a pork butt and watch them grind it), or the best pork ribs cut in half with a saw, or the best chicken feet, or the best pig feet, she shops where other Chinese people shop in Houston. At a store on Bellaire Blvd in Chinatown called Welcome. It was very difficult to get in Welcome to shop until H-Mart and 99 Ranch opened. Now Welcome has widened its aisles and organized everything to make it easier to shop there.