H Mart Asian Grocery Chain to Open in Cary

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Cary, NC — Cary’s supermarket wars continue with the recent announcement that H Mart, an Asian grocer, will open in the former Lowes Foods space at Cornerstone Shopping Center (High House and Davis), which has been abandoned since September of 2013.

H Mart Asian Grocer to Open in Cary

According to Triangle Business Journal, H Mart, a New Jersey-based grocery chain that specializes in Asian foods, has signed a contract to open its first North Carolina store in the former Lowes Foods space in Cornerstone Shopping Center in Cary.

The Lowes Foods Supermarket closed in September 2013 and has been abandoned since. According to TBJ, H Mart signed the lease for the entire 45,436 square-foot vacant space.

The new H Mart will specialize in many Asian foods, especially Korean. Products will include a large selection of rice and grains, noodles, snacks, ready-to-eat meals, side dishes, beverages, coffee, tea and spices, dried food, appliances and health and beauty supplies. Its large size and selection of products remind me of the Grand Asia Market on Buck Jones Road.

The store could open in less than a year.

The Rise of Asian Supermarkets in Cary

I love that there is no shortage of Asian Supermarkets in Cary and Morrisville, and I’ve noticed that many of them are grouped together in several areas.

Grand Asia Market and SMart reside near the Crossroads/Cary Towne Center area, and Triangle Indian Market, Toyo Skokuhin and Patel Brothers rest in Chatham Square. Morrisville territory is home to Apna Bazar, VGS and Shivam Indian Spices.

TBJ explained that, “H Mart was looking for locations that have at least a 25% Asian population (its core customer base) living within a three-mile radius of the store. Census shows that the Cornerstone location in Cary has about a 23% Asian population surrounding it.”

Stay Tuned for More Supermarket Wars

The past few years have seen big developments for supermarkets in Cary.

From a 2013 story in CaryCitizen:

The Supermarket Wars in Cary have brought more offerings, especially in the high and low ends. Stores in the middle, like Lowes, have a tough time against more upscale markets like Harris Teeter and Whole Foods as well as stiff competition at the low end against Aldi and Walmart.

Since then, supermarkets have only grown, including the recent openings of Earth Fare and Publix, just to name a few. We even made a map of all Cary supermarkets. Stay tuned for news of Cary’s second Publix opening in another former Cary Lowe’s location.

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Story by Jessica Patrick. Photo by Hal Goodtree.

5 replies
  1. Steve Ramirez
    Steve Ramirez says:

    H-mart (hangul mart) in Cary?! This is great, I miss having my choice of Korean grocery items I would get at H-Mart in Flushing, Queens. Let the supermarket wars continue.

    • Hal Goodtree
      Hal Goodtree says:

      Thanks for the comment, Hmart! Looking forward to having you in the neighborhood!

  3. Patty Cheng
    Patty Cheng says:

    Thanks for the update. There is quite a range of diversity among “Asian Supermarkets”, and they are uniquely different enough that it seems odd that they are all group together in this reference. “Indian” Supermarkets offer spices, tea, and ingredients that are quite different from that of Japanese, Korean, or Chinese Supermarkets.

    Korean markets are more likely to have Chinese/ Thai cooking ingredients. Short of commuting to Li Ming in the 15-501 area of Durham or to Grand Asia in East Cary (or out to Garner), This Location will actually be the closest market in the West Cary area to find ingredients for Chinese cooking. :)

  4. Yang Kim Ju
    Yang Kim Ju says:

    The quality of this reporting and writing is quite poor. For example, “Its large size and selection of products reminds me of the Grand Asia Market on Buck Jones Road.” First, read up on subject verb agreement. Second, why are you injecting your memories into this story? Finally, Grand Asia’s website claims their store is 30k square feet, making H Mart significantly larger.

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