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Dublin is set to see a new Asian grocery option that has proven popular across the country since its founding, and in the Bay Area since the debut of neighboring stores in recent years.
Korean grocery chain H Mart is now listed as a tenant on the website for Kimco Realty, who own the Dublin Retail Center, for a 37,180-square-foot storefront. However, officials from Kimco declined to confirm details of the deal at this time. No opening date has yet been announced for the new store.
Dublin city spokesperson Shari Jackman told Livermore Vine that the project is currently in a pre-application phase. After filing a formal application, the project would be the subject of at least three public hearings at Planning Commission meetings ahead of a vote on approval, but she noted that it could move forward quickly after entering the formal application phase.
"They expect that the formal process could be very quick, just because they will have dealt with any of the issues that arise," Jackman said.
The site being eyed for the grocery store's Dublin location is the largest at the shopping center, which currently hosts several retail stores including Marshalls and Ross Dress for Less, as well as Half Price Books.
Officials at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce first announced that H Mart was planning to come to Dublin in October 2021.
H Mart made its Bay Area debut in 2017 with two stores in San Jose, before branching out to San Francisco in 2021, with that store having recently expanded.
"We have always supported the development of new communities with each Grand Opening," H Mart founder Il Yeon Kwon said on the company's website. "In doing so, we continue to do our best to establish ourselves as a company that reaches out with a helping hand."
The company's first store opened in New York in 1982, followed by a second location in that state in 1984. Operations expanded along the East Coast throughout the 1990s and 2000s, as well as several southern states. The first California location was opened in Garden Grove in 2010, followed by additional stores in Southern California that decade, including in San Diego and Los Angeles.
"As we expand, we like to think that we are reinventing the way people eat through our robust and unique food culture that also promotes a rich and healthy lifestyle to all," he continued. "Our food is our pride, and through its quality we will do our absolute best to maintain our continuous movement towards providing our customers with the joy that comes from it."
H Mart has garnered a reputation as one of the earliest Asian grocery chains to become popular and expand throughout the United States.
