Photo illustration: 731; Photos: Janice Chung (4); Carolyn Fong (1); companies (62)
How America Got Hooked on H Mart
What began as a Korean specialty market four decades ago is now a billion-dollar grocery empire with an obsessive foodie following.
The Friday before Labor Day isn’t thought of as a blockbuster day for in-person retail; in truth, it’s mostly thought of as a day to escape the trappings of life. But it’s 11 a.m. off Exit 16 of the New Jersey Turnpike, and hundreds of people have eschewed the beaches of the Jersey Shore or the Hamptons to gather at the American Dream mall. They’ve said no to the saltwater taffy and sunscreen and yes to zealous shoppers and underparented kids, all to stand in clumps. There’s a clump in line for pearl milk tea and a clump around a pastry case full of guava Danish and taro cream bread. A passing mall walker in a visor inserts herself into a clump near a face-painting station to find out what all the fuss is about. Everyone has gathered, she learns, to celebrate the opening of a food court.