This May Be Why Only A Few States Are Lucky Enough To Have An H Mart

Asian grocery stores have been growing in popularity across the United States in recent years, and while some consumers are still trying to figure out how to shop at Asian supermarkets without feeling overwhelmed, others have been visiting them routinely for years. Among these growing Asian grocery stores is H Mart — a Korean-American grocery chain that began as a small specialty market in Queens, New York in the 1980s. In the years since, H Mart has become a massive Asian supermarket chain with nearly 100 locations across 18 states, the majority of which have either a very large or rapidly growing Asian population.

After the New York City market began to grow, H Mart expanded, opening locations across the East Coast before looking westward. Today, H Mart can be found in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, California, Texas, Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah — which just saw its first H Mart open in early June 2025. Most of these states are among the top 20 states in terms of the largest Asian populations in America. The others, most notably Colorado and Utah, have seen a noticeable increase in their Asian population since 2010 and have opened their H Mart locations in the intervening years.

Beyond becoming the go-to place for people across the country to pick up the best Korean snacks, H Mart's growth over the years is a sign of Asian cuisine's growing popularity in the United States among non-Asians. Despite expanding into areas with large Asian populations, Brian Kwon — the CEO of H Mart — confirmed in 2024 that around 30% of the chain's customers are non-Asians, many of whom have likely found themselves tired of Trader Joe's kimchi or simply want to integrate more Asian foods and ingredients into their diet.

However, the reason for this particular pattern of growth for H Mart is likely the result of it having the best qualities of both big and small grocery stores. With the increasing sizes of H Mart stores (the most recent to be built is 100,000 square feet in total), many of the chain's locations can offer the same amount of merchandise as massive chains like Albertsons or Kroger. Considering how Asian grocers have historically been limited to just a few aisles, H Mart's size and thus the variety of its products have been instrumental in it garnering a strong reputation as the definitive one-stop shop for Asian cuisine.