SpongeG
Oct 16, 2007, 11:32 PM
Korean supermarket chain picks B.C. over U.S. west
The U.S. West Coast is home to some of the largest concentrations of Korean expatriates in North America. But when New York-based Han Ah Reum, or H-Mart, a Korean supermarket chain with 20 locations across the northeastern states, pushed westward, it opened stores in downtown Vancouver, Coquitlam and Surrey, ahead of Seattle, Los Angeles (in a few weeks) and San Francisco (not until next year).
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/vasn/20071015/307-85.jpg
KOREAN GROCERY CHAIN OPENS THREE LOWER MAINLAND LOCATIONS: H-Mart store manager Sean Hwang in his new grocery market, one of three new stores opened in Canada by New York-based Han Ah Reum, or H-Mart, a Korean chain with 20 locations across the northeastern United States.
Photograph by : Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun
The Korean-Canadian consumer in B.C. is indeed capturing more attention, but more importantly, the competitive landscape here was pretty much wide open compared to the U.S., where it is crowded and heated.
In some American cities, there are already five or six big-name Korean supermarket chains duking it out, each armed with several locations.
Even though H-Mart has been around since the 1980s, when it was started by a Korean immigrant out of one Woodside, N.J., outlet, it has mostly stuck to the East Coast until recently.
"It's really hard to get the right location, even if we wanted to go to Los Angeles first. It's a huge market there, but one with so many players. We have to wait," Sean Hwang, H-Mart's Coquitlam store manager said in an interview.
However, "in Vancouver, there wasn't a big chain."
Across from H-Mart's store on North Road, off the Lougheed Highway, there is technically a competitor for H-Mart in Hannam Supermarket. This homegrown B.C. chain with local investors also has three Korean supermarket locations. But its stores are clearly much smaller and look, by far, more dated. Owners there declined to comment for this story.
"I was a Hannam shopper before," said Hwang. "Size-wise, we are bigger. That means we have a larger selection. Take the pepper pastes. There are a lot of different brands, a lot of sizes and flavours. We have 10 kinds. They might have seven kinds.
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/vasn/20071015/307-106.jpg
H-Mart in Surrey is an attempt to move outside Korean community.
Photograph by : Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun
"A lot of people think we are rivals, but I think what we have found is that, with the both of us here, the market for non-Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese customers has grown. Before, only Koreans shopped at Hannam. Now, I see more diversity in both shops."
Asian supermarket chains in North America, including well-known Richmond-based T&T Supermarket, plus a slew of others in the U.S., all pin their survival on pushing beyond their natural market niches and reaching so-called cross-ethnic shoppers. The trick is in balancing the needs of core customers while enticing new ones at the same time.
"Koreans are our No. 1 customers, but No. 2 are Chinese and No. 3 are Japanese and Caucasian," said Hwang.
In the U.S., H-Mart has very easily branched out beyond the Korean consumer, thanks, in part, to a mainstream market there that is dotted with American veterans who fought or were part of peacekeeping missions in Korea, said Peter B.I. Kwon, president of H-Mart, who oversees all the B.C. locations.
Take "the Denver store. It caters 80 per cent to non-Koreans," said Kwon, explaining that "there are a lot of military academies there. Many former soldiers have tasted and know Korean food from being abroad. Food is related to culture. It's very deep. To understand other people's food, you have to understand their culture."
H-Mart's newest addition, a 32,000-square-foot store in Surrey, represents Kwon's efforts to similarly steer the chain toward a more mainstream clientele in B.C.
"There are not many Asian people in the area. That's why we opened there," said Kwon. "It's a move for the future [of the brand]. Basically, we are not a Korean market. We are an international market."
That is the long-term vision, anyway.
Unfortunately, while the downtown and Coquitlam locations are humming, the Surrey one "is unsuccessful at the moment," said Kwon, sighing and furrowing his brow with stress at any mention of Surrey, even if he believes that it's a strategic and necessary bet to make.
"Downtown and in Coquitlam, around North Road, people know our products," said Hwang. There is a critical mass of Korean restaurants and other businesses -- hair salons, video- rental outlets, various repair shops--in close vicinity of both those stores.
"In Surrey, the store is more isolated," from our core Korean market, said Hwang. "We have to understand the customer there more and find out what they want."
In March 2006, when H-Mart's second B.C. location opened on Robson Street, a store manager there said there would be three more stores within the next two years. Now, Kwon shrugs his shoulders at the thought of more H-Marts in B.C.
"We haven't planned any more now. It depends on how it goes in Surrey. We are hoping it starts to go well there."
Hwang said: "The Surrey store is significant. We have to make it there.
"We are good at doing business with Koreans or other Asians. We don't have much experience at doing business with other people."
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=db58cf29-e825-49e4-9968-19bd59852df0&k=41436
The U.S. West Coast is home to some of the largest concentrations of Korean expatriates in North America. But when New York-based Han Ah Reum, or H-Mart, a Korean supermarket chain with 20 locations across the northeastern states, pushed westward, it opened stores in downtown Vancouver, Coquitlam and Surrey, ahead of Seattle, Los Angeles (in a few weeks) and San Francisco (not until next year).
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/vasn/20071015/307-85.jpg
KOREAN GROCERY CHAIN OPENS THREE LOWER MAINLAND LOCATIONS: H-Mart store manager Sean Hwang in his new grocery market, one of three new stores opened in Canada by New York-based Han Ah Reum, or H-Mart, a Korean chain with 20 locations across the northeastern United States.
Photograph by : Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun
The Korean-Canadian consumer in B.C. is indeed capturing more attention, but more importantly, the competitive landscape here was pretty much wide open compared to the U.S., where it is crowded and heated.
In some American cities, there are already five or six big-name Korean supermarket chains duking it out, each armed with several locations.
Even though H-Mart has been around since the 1980s, when it was started by a Korean immigrant out of one Woodside, N.J., outlet, it has mostly stuck to the East Coast until recently.
"It's really hard to get the right location, even if we wanted to go to Los Angeles first. It's a huge market there, but one with so many players. We have to wait," Sean Hwang, H-Mart's Coquitlam store manager said in an interview.
However, "in Vancouver, there wasn't a big chain."
Across from H-Mart's store on North Road, off the Lougheed Highway, there is technically a competitor for H-Mart in Hannam Supermarket. This homegrown B.C. chain with local investors also has three Korean supermarket locations. But its stores are clearly much smaller and look, by far, more dated. Owners there declined to comment for this story.
"I was a Hannam shopper before," said Hwang. "Size-wise, we are bigger. That means we have a larger selection. Take the pepper pastes. There are a lot of different brands, a lot of sizes and flavours. We have 10 kinds. They might have seven kinds.
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/vasn/20071015/307-106.jpg
H-Mart in Surrey is an attempt to move outside Korean community.
Photograph by : Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun
"A lot of people think we are rivals, but I think what we have found is that, with the both of us here, the market for non-Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese customers has grown. Before, only Koreans shopped at Hannam. Now, I see more diversity in both shops."
Asian supermarket chains in North America, including well-known Richmond-based T&T Supermarket, plus a slew of others in the U.S., all pin their survival on pushing beyond their natural market niches and reaching so-called cross-ethnic shoppers. The trick is in balancing the needs of core customers while enticing new ones at the same time.
"Koreans are our No. 1 customers, but No. 2 are Chinese and No. 3 are Japanese and Caucasian," said Hwang.
In the U.S., H-Mart has very easily branched out beyond the Korean consumer, thanks, in part, to a mainstream market there that is dotted with American veterans who fought or were part of peacekeeping missions in Korea, said Peter B.I. Kwon, president of H-Mart, who oversees all the B.C. locations.
Take "the Denver store. It caters 80 per cent to non-Koreans," said Kwon, explaining that "there are a lot of military academies there. Many former soldiers have tasted and know Korean food from being abroad. Food is related to culture. It's very deep. To understand other people's food, you have to understand their culture."
H-Mart's newest addition, a 32,000-square-foot store in Surrey, represents Kwon's efforts to similarly steer the chain toward a more mainstream clientele in B.C.
"There are not many Asian people in the area. That's why we opened there," said Kwon. "It's a move for the future [of the brand]. Basically, we are not a Korean market. We are an international market."
That is the long-term vision, anyway.
Unfortunately, while the downtown and Coquitlam locations are humming, the Surrey one "is unsuccessful at the moment," said Kwon, sighing and furrowing his brow with stress at any mention of Surrey, even if he believes that it's a strategic and necessary bet to make.
"Downtown and in Coquitlam, around North Road, people know our products," said Hwang. There is a critical mass of Korean restaurants and other businesses -- hair salons, video- rental outlets, various repair shops--in close vicinity of both those stores.
"In Surrey, the store is more isolated," from our core Korean market, said Hwang. "We have to understand the customer there more and find out what they want."
In March 2006, when H-Mart's second B.C. location opened on Robson Street, a store manager there said there would be three more stores within the next two years. Now, Kwon shrugs his shoulders at the thought of more H-Marts in B.C.
"We haven't planned any more now. It depends on how it goes in Surrey. We are hoping it starts to go well there."
Hwang said: "The Surrey store is significant. We have to make it there.
"We are good at doing business with Koreans or other Asians. We don't have much experience at doing business with other people."
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=db58cf29-e825-49e4-9968-19bd59852df0&k=41436