The county’s Asian supermarket sector, led by Buena Park-based Tawa Supermarkets Inc. and its 99 Ranch stores, is getting a big new player.
A 25,000-square-foot H Mart, owned by Woodside, N.Y.-based Hanahreum Group, is set to open by year’s end at a shopping center going up on Jamboree Road in Irvine.
H Mart has 22 stores, mostly on the East Coast, in the Midwest and in Canada. The chain began moving west last year with stores in Seattle, Denver and Vancouver, British Columbia.
“The West Coast is the most Asian-populated area,” said William Choi, chief management officer at H Mart. “Many customers on the West Coast want to have H Mart in their cities.”
The Irvine store is expected to open in December and have about 50 workers, according to Choi.
The company counts about $500 million in annual sales, Choi said.
It’s coming to 99 Ranch territory. The chain’s parent Tawa counts estimated yearly sales of $210 million.
99 Ranch, which declined to comment for this story, has two stores within a few miles of where H Mart plans to go up, one on Culver Drive and one on Walnut Avenue.
The chain has 27 stores in all, including three in OC. Others are in Los Angeles County, San Diego, Atlanta and Seattle.
For more on this story, see the March 5 edition of the Business Journal.
