H Mart opening two Downtown Seattle locations

[Brian Lutz]

https://seattle.eater.com/2019/9/13/208 ... lake-union

Korean grocer H Mart is opening two stores in Downtown Seattle this month; one regular (but presumably smaller than usual) H Mart store near Pike Place Market, and a more upscale "District H" store (with a greater emphasis on hot foods) in South Lake Union near Amazon headquarters. Given the relative lack of grocery options in Downtown Seattle (the options are basically an IGA on 3rd Avenue, a small grocery selection at Target and the Uwajimaya in the International District) the store seems like it should do reasonably well, but is also in a fairly high crime area so shrink might be an issue.

[storewanderer]

https://seattle.eater.com/2019/9/13/208 ... lake-union

Korean grocer H Mart is opening two stores in Downtown Seattle this month; one regular (but presumably smaller than usual) H Mart store near Pike Place Market, and a more upscale "District H" store (with a greater emphasis on hot foods) in South Lake Union near Amazon headquarters. Given the relative lack of grocery options in Downtown Seattle (the options are basically an IGA on 3rd Avenue, a small grocery selection at Target and the Uwajimaya in the International District) the store seems like it should do reasonably well, but is also in a fairly high crime area so shrink might be an issue.

Downtown Seattle definitely needs more grocery options given there is more housing there. The Target there looked like it had trouble keeping its grocery shelves full. The IGA did not seem to be doing a lot of business for some reason.

Tough to say if H-Mart is the right fit but at least it will have basics like fresh produce.

[rwsandiego]

If the H Mart in Chicago's West Loop is any indication, the stores will be pretty fancy.

The West Loop is more analogous to South Lake Union than it is to Pike Place Market.

[storewanderer]

If the H Mart in Chicago's West Loop is any indication, the stores will be pretty fancy.

The West Loop is more analogous to South Lake Union than it is to Pike Place Market.

We will see. There is something different with the H Marts in OR/WA/CO/British Columbia compared to the rest of the chain. They are not merchandised the same, they run different point of sale systems/signs, run different promotions, different uniforms/bags... it is not clear to me if they are a franchise or license agreement or what but they do not come off as the same chain. They have their own headquarters in a Seattle suburb. They do not renovate their stores nearly as well as the main H-Mart chain does. They have a nearly unremodeled Haggen outside Portland (granted, it is a very nice store... maybe they did not want to fix what wasn't broken). They also do not appear on the website's store locator. https://www.hmart.com/ourstores/ They also do not appear on the website's history timeline. https://www.hmart.com/history

[rwsandiego]

If the H Mart in Chicago's West Loop is any indication, the stores will be pretty fancy.

The West Loop is more analogous to South Lake Union than it is to Pike Place Market.

We will see. There is something different with the H Marts in OR/WA/CO/British Columbia compared to the rest of the chain. They are not merchandised the same, they run different point of sale systems/signs, run different promotions, different uniforms/bags... it is not clear to me if they are a franchise or license agreement or what but they do not come off as the same chain. They have their own headquarters in a Seattle suburb. They do not renovate their stores nearly as well as the main H-Mart chain does. They have a nearly unremodeled Haggen outside Portland (granted, it is a very nice store... maybe they did not want to fix what wasn't broken). They also do not appear on the website's store locator. https://www.hmart.com/ourstores/ They also do not appear on the website's history timeline. https://www.hmart.com/history

Here's something interesting. H Mart has two websites: hmart.com and hmartus.com. The PNW stores are listed on the hmartus.com site (as are the other stores) but not on the hmart.com website.

Here is the hmart usvwebsite.

[eric1972sea]

I was wondering why the hmart.com website showed no stores in Washington state. That definitely doesn’t help customers, as most like myself will visit hmart.com.

They’re also going to be the grocer at the Capitol Hill light rail station transit oriented development being built up on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

[eric1972sea]

They actually have a third website hmartnw.com

[Super S]

If the H Mart in Chicago's West Loop is any indication, the stores will be pretty fancy.

The West Loop is more analogous to South Lake Union than it is to Pike Place Market.

We will see. There is something different with the H Marts in OR/WA/CO/British Columbia compared to the rest of the chain. They are not merchandised the same, they run different point of sale systems/signs, run different promotions, different uniforms/bags... it is not clear to me if they are a franchise or license agreement or what but they do not come off as the same chain. They have their own headquarters in a Seattle suburb. They do not renovate their stores nearly as well as the main H-Mart chain does. They have a nearly unremodeled Haggen outside Portland (granted, it is a very nice store... maybe they did not want to fix what wasn't broken). They also do not appear on the website's store locator. https://www.hmart.com/ourstores/ They also do not appear on the website's history timeline. https://www.hmart.com/history

Here's something interesting. H Mart has two websites: hmart.com and hmartus.com. The PNW stores are listed on the hmartus.com site (as are the other stores) but not on the hmart.com website.

Here is the hmart usvwebsite.

It reminds me of the time when Albertsons was split up into two separate Albertsons chains.