Stamford needs a grocery store. Why not an H-Mart?

Stamford has still yet to welcome H-Mart, which is one of the largest supermarket chains in the United States. H-Mart is a grocery store that sells Asian food products, as well as a couple of restaurants.

But with over a dozen locations in New York City and Long Island, why hasn’t it moved to Stamford yet?

While there are a few places to get groceries like Costco, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s, they all lack the special Asian foods that only H-Mart and a select few stores have.

A freshman at Westhill thinks alike. “Some of the benefits of H-Mart would be readily available ingredients that couldn’t be found at other competitor stores, like Jackfruit.

In my family, those are one of our favorites. Also, with the other items that would be more convenient to pick up, such as chili crisp.” Neil Nair (‘28) said.

He also says that the addition of H-Mart would add on to the East Asian culture here.

“I feel that the Asian presence in Stamford is limited to just restaurants, and those who enjoy cooking or find pleasure in just learning the culture of other people’s nations,” Nair said.

AITE students have also commented on the problems of the distance of Stamford to other H-Mart locations.

“People have to drive 30+ minutes just to get Korean ingredients and snacks. I have friends who often ask me to buy things from there since I go to NY every week, (a lot of H-Marts there). Having a H-Mart nearby would make it easier for people to cook Korean meals and eat Korean snacks without the inconvenience of a long commute,” said Abigail Jung (‘25).

Besides the unique food and the long drives, Mr. Colin Ng, a social studies teacher at Westhill, believes that H-Mart would be able to be beneficial to the younger population of Stamford as well.

“Typically H-Marts have a food court, and they have very affordable food with large portions and would benefit a lot of young people in Stamford. We have the UConn campus, we have students that go and eat in the town, and also a young professional working population that would all benefit from these food courts,” Ng said.

In order to get some opinions from the H-Mart headquarters itself, The Westword tried to reach
out, but has yet to receive a reply. Nevertheless, whether H-Mart will come to Stamford or not, it will always be one of the best places to eat and shop Asian food even if it isn’t right here.