By HyunCheon Kim
Translated SeungYeon Woo



The rumor of the second H Mart, a Korean grocery chain, entering in Cambridge has been actually visualized and it will be opening next to Central Square Station, where people can easily reach by public transportation.

According to the Boston Globe, H Mart has signed a lease to open an 18,000-square-foot supermarket in Cambridge in the space that Harvest Co-op on June 16th. The branch manager of Burlington H Mart, Mimi Lee approved the fact about contraction; however she she did not elaborate the details yet. The Boston Globe reported that according to the landlord, Morris Nagger from 3MJ realty, the construction of H Mart at 581 Massachusetts Avenue will begin starting from this September and continue for about 6 months.

The new H Mart will take up 18,000 square-foot, which includes 14,500 square-foot of Harvest Co-op property and 3,500 square-foot of empty place. Moreover, the market will be located right next to the Central Square station and the surrounding is bustling town due to many stores such as TD Bank and 7 Eleven. According to the 2010 Census, there are about 8,000 Koreans (4,000 in Boston, 2,200 in Cambridge, 1,400 in Brookline and 500 in Somerville) currently residing around Cambridge. Also there are many Asians other than Koreans. The most influent advantage of the market entering in Cambridge is that the town has a convenient transportation. People can easily get to H Mart without
cars.

It is expected that many Korean students will frequently visit the market. However, people with cars will have some difficulties parking their cars since the H Mart parking lot only allows about 30 cars. There is a public parking lot but it requires fee.

There is a possibility that a traffic congestion will occur since the streets around Central Square station is busy already. According to the Boston Globe, H mart has no plans yet to address potential traffic problems in the heavily congested Central Square, and the landlord said he does not anticipate any traffic issues.

Among Koreans around Boston, students mostly welcome the fact that H Mart is entering in the center of Boston. Since the market in Burlington is quite far away from the city, students, who usually do not have their own cars could not go often. They say that they are glad to easily shop Korean groceries.

Also, they are expecting to enjoy Korean food at food court that will be available inside the market. The most reason Koreans greet H Mart is the fact that it is much closer to them than the one in Burlington.
However, some Koreans oppose the H Mart entering in Cambridge because of it will give a serious threat to small-scale commercials around the town. The continuous expansion of H Mart will monopolize consumers and small-scale grocery stores will disappear.

Jinwoo Jeong said, “The small-scale grocery stores have been competing by improving services as alternative markets but if these stores start to close then H Mart will turn out as a monopolistic market.”
Now the small-scale markets need to put more effective effort in order to compete and keep their customers by using more fresh local distributions.

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ⓒ 보스톤코리아(http://www.bostonkorea.com), 무단전재 및 재배포 금지