H Mart is planting its fourth flag in the Houston metro, targeting the region’s fastest-growing Asian enclave.
The Korean-American grocery chain filed plans to open a 64,000-square-foot store in Sugar Land, converting a former Floor & Décor at 3665 North Highway 6, the Houston Business Journal reported. The filing lists an estimated $4.45 million interior buildout, with work starting in August and finishing by March.
H Mart has stores in Chinatown, near the Spring Branch–Memorial area, and in Katy Asian Town, where it anchors a pan-Asian retail development off Grand Parkway and Interstate 10.
H Mart’s Sugar Land site sits across Interstate 69 from a new Trader Joe’s. Architect TDCK is overseeing the design. New Jersey–based Grand BK, the chain’s purchasing arm, is listed as the project contact.
The expansion comes as retail developers rush to meet demand in Houston’s suburban Asian hubs. More than 38 percent of Sugar Land’s residents identify as Asian, the largest ethnic group in the city. Fort Bend County holds the highest share of Asian residents of any Texas county at over 23 percent.
That growing base is reshaping local retail real estate. In nearby Pearland, where roughly 17 percent of residents are of Asian heritage, developer Peter Wood is building the 126,000-square-foot Pearland Asian Town center, which is proposed to have a grocery anchor. Leasing was nearly full by May, according to Wood, who said he fielded numerous calls before hiring a broker.
Grocery-anchored shopping centers are fueling Texas’ retail development activity, with H-E-B, Kroger and Walmart leading the way. Nearly half of the 1.5 million square feet of retail space delivered in Dallas-Fort Worth was grocery-anchored shopping centers.
H Mart, which has 100 stores nationwide, is in growth mode. It opened locations this year in Urbana, Illinois; Chino, California; and Las Vegas. It recently debuted a 10th Seattle-area store. The company has also experimented with Korean food halls like its “Market Eatery” concept in Austin.
— Judah Duke
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