3 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
H Mart opens to long lines, hungry customers in Westminster
A few red pop-up tents outside the new H Mart supermarket in Westminster provided some shade to the many customers who braved the 90-degree heat for its grand opening on a recent Thursday.
Under the tents, members of the Korean grocer's rewards program were offered free tote bags and other gifts, items such as chopsticks, floral bowls and vegetable strainers. Nearby, the line to get into the H Mart stretched well beyond the neighboring Daiso Japanese Household Goods store.
Located at 16450 Beach Blvd., H Mart Westminster is the company's 19th store in California and the sixth in Orange County. At 72,916 square feet, it is also the chain's largest location.
The opening on Aug. 7 featured a traditional lion dance for good luck and comments from local officials, including Assemblyman Tri Ta, Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen and James Bong Cho, president of the Korean American Federation of Orange County.
'Westminster is a culturally diverse community, and we are excited to welcome H Mart into our city,' Nguyen said. 'As the largest Asian American supermarket chain in the United States, H Mart's products and offerings will resonate well with our residents and visitors alike.'
H Mart opened its first store in Woodside, Queens, N.Y. in 1982 and has since grown into a national supermarket chain with more than 100 locations in 18 states. Its stores stock a wide assortment of Asian groceries, from fresh produce, meats, seafood and pantry staples to frozen foods, health and beauty products and appliances. The grocery store is a one-stop shop for many Korean American households looking for special treats or specific ingredients, like Napa cabbage to make kimchi.
Customers swarmed to the new store for items like viral fruit-shaped ice cream, RNR Korean chestnut bread and doorbuster sales like a 15-pound bag of Haru Haru rice for a $1 with a $200 purchase.
The store has an expanded cooking appliances and home goods area, with Sanrio merchandise, dishes, rice cookers and electric griddles.
Another big draw for the store is a food hall that provides 11 dining options. Brian Kwon, H Mart's president, said the food hall will make H Mart Westminster a destination for local community members who are looking to Asian grocery stores to not only provide culturally specific ingredients and products, but experiences, too.
'H Mart is excited to bring an authentic taste of Asia to your neighborhood and we hope our customers share in our enthusiasm,' Kwon said in a statement. 'Our market is all about celebrating the richness and variety of Asian cuisine, making it easier than ever to find the flavors you love, right here at home.'
The food hall is home to Moobongri Soondae Express, which serves authentic Korean blood sausage, soups and stews; Paik's Noodle, known for Korean-style Chinese food; and Chang Hwa Dang, which serves Korean dumplings. KZ Mori serves Japanese fusion cuisine while Yoo's Place and Goobne Chicken offer Korean street food options and Eggcellent features egg sandwiches and coffee.
The food hall also houses two Korean concepts that found fame through mukbang videos; Jaws Topokki, which specializes in tteokbokki (also called topokki), a spicy braised rice cake soup, and Myungrang Hot Dog, which serves Korean-style corn dogs. Both concepts were previously only found locally at the Source in Buena Park, a culture-defining hub for Orange County's Koreatown. Other recognizable brands include the popular French Asian bakery chain, Tous Les Jours and the Taiwanese bubble tea concept, Gong Cha.
Three of the other five H Marts in Orange County are located in the city of Irvine. The chain's newest location sits near the Huntington Beach border, in proximity to Little Saigon and the large Asian American communities found in Fountain Valley, Garden Grove and Buena Park.
Orange County has an appetite for Asian grocery stores, as the county also welcomed its third Toyko Central store at Heritage Plaza shopping center in Irvine just a couple of weeks ago and anticipates the first SoCal T&T Supermarket, Canada's largest Asian grocery chain, to open in Irvine in 2026.
'It is nice to have [an H Mart] closer to where we are so we don't to go all the way to Garden Grove or Irvine,' said Arthur Nguyen, a Fountain Valley resident who shopped with his girlfriend on the store's opening day.
H Mart Westminster is located at 16450 Beach Blvd. and is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
