The story
The H Mart chain began in 1982 in Woodside, Queens, in New York City, as a small corner grocery store. The original store was opened by Il Yeon Kwon, an immigrant from South Korea, under the name Han Ah Reum. Subsequent H Marts were operated differently from the original location, which maintained the original name and signage until it was remodeled in 2023.
United States
From 1982 to 1991, the company added 10 stores, mostly in the Northeastern United States.
In 1997, the company opened its first store in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area, in Falls Church, Virginia. On October 19, 1998, the chain opened its current headquarters in Lyndhurst in Bergen County, the U.S. county with the highest Korean population percentage, at 6.9%.
After its 2001 opening, an H Mart store in northern Virginia gained many Hispanic American employees. After cultural conflicts between Hispanic and Korean American employees in one store, the H Mart headquarters provided an intercultural training program, with translations into Spanish.
In 2004, the first Super H Mart opened in Duluth, Georgia. By 2005, the chain had 17 stores; by the following March, it had 22, all on the East Coast except for two stores in Denver, Colorado. Its first West Coast location, in Federal Way, Washington, opened in April 2006.
In spring 2017, H Mart opened a 43,000-square-foot (4,000 m2) store in San Jose, California. In summer 2018, H Mart signed a lease for a 42,000-square-foot (3,900 m2) store in San Francisco.
In June 2024, H Mart opened its first store in Utah, which at 100,000 square feet is the chain's largest store.
On September 25, 2025, H Mart made its debut in Florida, having their grand opening in Orlando.
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As of 2025, there were more than 97 H Mart stores in the United States, located in New York, New Jersey, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
Canada
H Mart began moving into western Canada in December 2003, with its first store in Coquitlam, British Columbia, a West Coast location that opened ahead of stores in Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In subsequent years, the company opened stores in Downtown Vancouver and Langley in 2006; Richmond in 2012; Port Coquitlam in 2016; and Victoria in 2025.
In 2013, the company opened its first urban convenience format on Yonge Street and Churchill Avenue in the Toronto-suburb of Willowdale called "M2M–morning to midnight". The two-story, 4,500-square-foot (420 m2) store is the first one in Canada. There are currently three other M2M stores in the U.S., two in Manhattan and one in Seattle. A larger H Mart opened on Yonge Street in Richmond Hill, with another opening in Downtown Toronto across from Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) in 2017. In July 2019, an H Mart opened in Edmonton, Alberta, followed by a second store in Edmonton beside the University of Alberta campus in December 2019 and its first location in Calgary in 2020. Another store opened in Calgary in Beacon Hill in October 2023. As of June 21, 2024 H Mart made their entry into the French Canadian province of Quebec by acquiring 3 Jang Teu grocery stores in Montreal.
United Kingdom
H Mart Europe Limited was incorporated in 2009, and in 2011, H Mart opened its first store in Europe, in the New Malden area of London.
From Wikipedia’s article on H Mart, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5