Specialty Grocer HMart Opening a New Store in California

HMart will open its newest location in Irvine, California, on Friday at 10 a.m., the Lyndhurst, New Jersey-based specialty grocer said.

The new store will be located at 3825 Alton Parkway and will feature fresh produce, meat, seafood, Asian groceries and housewares. The store will also feature a food hall market eatery, according to the grocer's website.

The growth of Asian American populations across the country is prompting expansion of the chain. Established in New York in 1982 as Han Ah Reum (a Korean phrase meaning “arm full of groceries”), HMart said the grand opening will feature an array of cultural events, such as a traditional Korean dance and a Chinese lion dance.

HMart, which recently opened two new stores—one in Hawaii and the other in Massachusetts—has estimated annual sales of more than $1 billion and is one of the largest Asian specialty grocer in the country, with stores in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, Texas, Illinois, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and California. For more than 30 years, it has also hosted in-store eateries in select stores as part of the company's mission to help customers "feel at home wherever [they] are from."