H Mart Is Bringing Its Asian Supermarket Wonderland to Fort Worth Suburb — It’s a Big Win For Haltom City and Food Lovers

The Fort Worth Asian community and all fans of Asian food and products have reason to rejoice. Many have been hiking to Carrollton for years to get their groceries (and a whole lot more) at the massive Asian market known as H Mart. Now Haltom City plans to bring one much closer to home. New plans call for a 50 acre mixed-use development to include an estimated 16-acre shopping center — with a new H Mart as one of its core tenants.

Way beyond a mere Asian grocery store, an H Mart shopping center brings everything from clothing and shoes to eateries, tea shops, coffee shops and salons ― in attached satellite suites. Much like you find in and around train stations throughout Asia, which become a shopping hub for the community.

H Mart is truly a destination shopping experience.

This figures to be a major economic boost for the Fort Worth suburb of Haltom City, which boasts a large Vietnamese, Laotian and Chinese population. Haltom City’s aging infrastructure and architecture are stuck in a bit of a time warp with most buildings constructed in the 1950s and 1960s.

That makes 50 acres of new development an even bigger deal.

Haltom City hopes that the arrival of H Mart will be a catalyst for growth in the community, as these mega Asian grocery superstores have become a magnet in other communities, attracting other surrounding businesses who want to be in close proximity.

“We are particularly excited and humbled that H Mart has chosen to locate their seventh Texas store in our city,” Haltom City mayor Dr. An Truong says. “H Mart is one of the fastest-growing grocery chains in America and Canada. H Mart will improve and expand our shopping experience.”

The Magic Of H Mart

H Mart began in New York in 1982. It first opened as Han Ah Reum ― a Korean phrase meaning “arm full of groceries” (but, believe me, you’ll leave with a basket full). This Asian market powerhouse now operates 125 locations in 14 different states. In Texas, you’ll find them in  Carrolton, Plano, Austin (which opened in 2018), Katy and Houston ― with another new one slated for the Koreatown section of Dallas. That H Mart will be located at 2534 Royal Lane.

Housed inside these Asian wonderlands you’ll find beautifully packed produce (many fruits and vegetables that you simply cannot find anywhere else), and meats perfectly packaged for Asian recipes like thin slices of beef for shabu-shabu (a Japanese soup dish).

The prepared foods are filled with a wide selection of traditional kimchis, a wall of miso varieties and chili oils to turn up the heat on any dish. At H Mart, the fish market alone is the most extensive one in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex ― with dried fishes of all types, ready-made sashimi-grade platters, plus live lobsters and clams.

You could waste an hour knocking around the tea selection at H Mart, peruse the amazing variety of cooking sauces and lose all control in the awe-inspiring snack aisle. Where else can you procure 20 pound bags of rice, along with household staples from tea kettles to rice cookers, plus specialty Asian cosmetics and an array of frozen goods?

At H Mart, the vast selection is multi-cultural, featuring name brands that many now know well and end up searching for elsewhere. Here you can find the sesame oil that grandmother uses, or the exact brand of boba pearls from someone’s uncle’s tiny tea shop in their hometown. It’s a feast for the eyes and a shopping experience that so many of us crave.

“The store will feature a sit-down food court, a bakery, home goods, beer and wine, kitchenware, beauty products, and many other items,” a release promises. “H Mart is also known for its innovative new food halls which are an extension of over 30 years of providing eateries in its stores.”

The Haltom City development is currently in the approval phase, with the actual construction of the site hopefully beginning as early as the first quarter of 2024. In addition to the new anchor H Mart, there will be approximately 50 to 60 commercial outlets that will be comprised of restaurants, merchandise retail stores and distribution and logistics centers.

The new development will be located on the Southeast corner at the intersection of Loop 820 and Beach Street. The frontage road of Loop 820 will front the new Asian superstore and large retail shopping center.

There is a lot to look forward to in Haltom City. And the H Mart anticipation has already begun.