H Mart brings a world of Asian foods to Tigard

Tag : Fish Maw

As you gaze at dozens of giant jars of different brands and stylesof kimchi, the Korean national dish of spicy fermented cabbage, youmay suspect that you're not in Kansas anymore.
Or Tigard, more to the point.
But you are still in Tigard, standing in front of the wall o'kimchiin the new H Mart on Oregon 99W. The only Oregon branch of theAsian-food megamart opened a month ago in the space formerlyoccupied by a Haggen Food & Pharmacy store. The opening was abig event among local Korean American and other Asian communities,and caused much twittering and blogging among Portland foodies.
People jammed the store on the first day. One food blog postreported lines 20 and 30 people deep at the registers. It cannothave been far wrong, because a week later checkers still had aslightly haunted look -- maybe not a thousand-yard stare, but ahundred-yard one -- when asked about opening day.
Those crowds become a little easier to understand when you realizehow eagerly awaited this store was. "There was a lot ofanticipation," store accounting manager Yong Kim said. "Before weopened, people regularly drove to shop at the Federal Way storenear Seattle, sometimes from Eugene or farther away."
H Mart, it seems, is more phenomenon than supermarket, and such athing deserves a FAQ, so here are some answers to Frequently AskedQuestions about H Mart.
What's the big deal? To understand why a new supermarket wouldraise even a ripple, it's best to go directly to H Mart and try tosoak it all in. Like Uwajimaya in Beaverton or Fubonn in SoutheastPortland, the store is bigger, brighter -- and to those of us notof Asian ancestry -- more bewildering than what we are used to.
It is clean, organized and bustling with activity: Crowds clumparound sampling stations; live tanks bubble with crabs and clams; ahousewares area is complete with an acre or so of rice cookers andsome high-tech dishwashers. At least three places exist to grab asit-down lunch, including a Korean deli, a Chinese restaurant and asushi counter, plus a prepared-foods line near the seafood whereyou can buy a pound of marinated pork or stewed lotus root orseasoned burdock. Finally, placed strategically next to the luncharea, a Korean bakery puts out such delicacies as green teadoughnuts and red bean buns. The sample tray is regularly refilledagainst the depredations of shoppers.
What's the company background? Founded in 1982, H Mart is based inNew Jersey. It is one of the nation's largest Asian fooddistributors with nearly 30 stores and warehouses around the county-- mostly back East and in the South -- and a half-dozen more areplanned. A third of the stores are in the New Jersey/New York area.At about 60,000 square feet, the Tigard store is among the smallestof H Marts, Kim said.
Why here, now? No, Tigard isn't a hotbed of Korean culture, but itwas the closest place in the Portland metro area with a suitablylarge, vacant retail space. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 310people in Tigard said they were Korean compared to almost 1,300 inBeaverton, where H Mart also looked for a suitable space. About9,000 people in the metropolitan area claimed Korean ancestry inthat census, but as you'll see, H Mart appeals to a wide array ofethnic backgrounds.
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