H Mart opened its grocery store near Pike Place in 2019 (Image: H Mart)
In March of 2018, CHS first reported the rumor.
By September 2019, we had confirmed the news.
In summer of 2021, CHS reported the construction in the space creating a new 16,000-square-foot grocery along Broadway was underway.
But we can’t tell you why — exactly — the Capitol Hill H Mart isn’t yet open in the spring of 2022.
CHS gets asked about H Mart every day with the pace of questions picking up earlier this winter as new signs went up along the Capitol Hill Station storefront and the shelves started to be stocked.
The launch of a new @HMartCapHill Twitter account in early March whipped things up even more. “Coming soon!,” its first message read. But the account has gone mostly quiet since the initial burst, the promotional posters along Broadway’s storefront have been covered up, and H Mart fans are starting to get worried.
You can relax. H Mart will be open soon.
A person with knowledge of the situation says H Mart Capitol Hill is expected to open in April after a brief delay. The real estate industry source isn’t part of the company but speculated that supply issues challenging many retail industries including groceries could be partly to blame.
The retail and apartment development H Mart is part of has also made a big change, shifting from Capitol Hill Station to a new brand — Connection on Broadway from developer Gerding Edlen and property manager Greystar. A collection of businesses and services — including a new home for Glo’s and new cafe Seasmith along with a community center for for neurodiverse young adults and a new dentistry office — will also open there through the year.
Coming soon! #CapHillHMart pic.twitter.com/MRwaDvKGyf
— H Mart Capitol Hill (@HMartCapHill) March 4, 2022
But a simpler explanation could be delays in inspections due to resource constraints at the city as it emerges from COVID-19 restrictions. Seattle Fire Department permit inspections required prior to the opening of a new space like the Broadway H Mart are part of the backlog. A tipster says a delay forced H Mart to remove items from its shelves until the required inspection was passed.
The company behind the store has also gone through some corporate shuffling, changing the corporation on the paperwork for permits and licenses.
Through the years since CHS first reported on the rumors, we haven’t heard much from H Mart other than a press release or two about new openings elsewhere in the region. The Pacific Northwest wing of “the largest Asian supermarket chain in America” has done things on its schedule and in its own style. H Mart, as usual, hasn’t responded to CHS’s most recent inquiries about its opening plans.
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