H-Mart Naperville opening date?

I drove past the soon to be opened Naperville H-Mart. Signage is up and shopping carts were all lined up by the door, but it was just a big tease. The doors were still locked, but the paper starting to come down from the windows and you can see the shelves being stocked.

Does anyone know when this store plans to open? I can't wait, although I'm sure the owners of Asia Mart around the corner are of another opinion.

Bill

According to this article, it's supposed to open in September.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/business/499501,6_3_NA07_HMART_S1.article

I suppose I could be really diligent and verify the assertions in this article, but I'm busy eating the 99-cent pomegranates that I got at the one in Niles.

Is Super H any good? My wife and I kinda joked about it being so close to an old K-Mart. Then the Shell station by us is turning into a K station.

Read all about it here

I'm game. I'm kind of excited about it now.

The paper was off the windows the other night. The shelves are empty and the registers were wrapped in plastic. Yesterday, there were cars in the lot. Hopefully, they are stocking the shelves for an opening.

Even the shopping carts are lined up outside now (hundreds of them).

I was going past the eagerly anticipated H Mart on Ogden Just west of Naperville Blvd. I saw some guys working on the exterior. I asked when opening day will be. I was told they wanted to be open 1 Sept, but hit some snags. They are looking for 1 Oct - 15 Oct.

Anyone in the Naperville area interested besides me?

Niles H Marters.... there is a new Korean/Asian store opening up at the old sports authority on milwaukee and ballard... i will post details on opening in another thread as it gets ready to open

http://www.hmart.com/images/coupon/week ... IL_big.jpg

This Friday!

Unfortunately I will be out of town for the next week and a half. But coming Oct. 1, you will find me at the Foodcourt for lunch before wandering through the aisles.

And in the mean time, please save a Big Red Plum for me, and maybe some fuzzy squash.

I was at the grand opening yesterday of the Naperville Super H-Mart. It was so crowded that walking around in the store was nearly impossible, and the wait to check out was more than 45 minutes. I was planning to buy a couple items, but I put them back on the shelves and will return in a couple weeks when things calm down.

I'm a little torn. On one hand I really like the selection the store offers. On the other hand, I fear it will put a number of local Asian markets out of business. I suspect I will only go to H-Mart for the things I cannot buy at the local markets.

I went on Friday after work, and again on Saturday morning to pick up a few items.

My impressions:

Produce - There is a HUGE selection of fresh fruit, good prices, and what seemed to be high quality. The old deli section from Dominick's has been converted into a fresh kimchi / pickled veggie area.

Live Fish Tanks - the selections on both days included dungeness crab, lobster, tilapia, striped bass, and fresh water eel. Huge, wonderfully fresh tuna carcasses were broken down right at the counter. Additionally, the fish selection now takes up all but about 30 ft of the rear of the store. Selections include: skate wing, cod, monkfish, salmon, mackerel, sole, halibut, and snapper all prepped to your liking.

Meat selections aren't as numerous. Beef is available in many cuts, as is pork, but chicken is only available in a few ways (whole, feet, boneless skinless breasts). All beef is labled as choice, and the short ribs were outstanding.

The aisles are where the fun really began. So many ingredients, so little time. The selection is pretty entertaining. Imagine a wall of Ragu pasta sauce sitting directly across from the soba noodle selection. The frozen food section was the most daunting because of the 9-10 tasting sections, each causing a traffic pile-up the likes only known previously to the travelers of the Hillside strangler.

Overall, I can't wait to return. The prices and selection, especially for seafood, are fantastic.

Flip

Is there a food court at this location?

jow wrote:Is there a food court at this location?

The food court hasn't opened yet. The actual market has taken the old Dominick's space, and the old Walgreen's location is being modified into the food court.

Flip

Super H Mart is finally open! It's a nice option because Ogden lacks many grocery stores on that stretch and the Asian Supermarket at Ogden and Naper Boulevard (a block up by the Butterfield's Pancake Place) is just too small and dark to satisfy my Asian cuisine needs.

I intend to go to Super H Mart particularly for staples of Japanese cooking like soba noodle sauce, good quality soy, noodles, and the like; and seafood. It pleased me to no end to see decent portions of fresh sashimi-grade tuna and sushi for a pretty reasonable $5. I'm guessing that's reasonable for Chicago, being from the West Coast (where the seafood prices are far lower). I'm disappointed they sell farmed salmon rather than wild, which I'd pay the premium for, but you take what you can get around this neck of the woods it seems.

The produce section was a pleasant surprise for the full variety of fruits and vegetables, some of which I have no idea of how you would prepare (banana flower, anyone?). The prices are quite reasonable there too, and the selection looks pretty promising.

They have all the staples, and everything is unsurprisingly very well laid out and bright. The advertisement section at the front of the store had some great deals; I'll look through when I'm not about to jet off on vacation and leave all that goodness stuck in my crisper.

It's definitely worth checking out.

Lilya,

If you are interested in Japanese food in particular, you should trek up to Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights.

http://www.mitsuwachicago.net/english/map/map.html

This is the largest Japanese grocery store in Chicago.

I finally made it to H-Mart in the Nape and, while it is a very welcome addition to the area, its not quite up to the level of H-Mart Niles. They retained the awkward lay-out of the old Dominicks with entry smack in front of the check-out registers, as well as the old worn out floor tiles from what I could tell. The produce section is maybe a third the size of the same in the Niles outlet. The meat department is also much smaller, and the fish/seafood area about half the size of what you find in Niles.

I also heard a mildy disturbing story about a friend getting fresh fish. He chose a Tilapia from the tank. After some time, a store employee was finally able to catch it out of the tank in a net. He wandered aroudnd confused a little and finally brought it to the kitchen in back to be killed and dressed. What came out the other side was a Tilapia, but not the one he had chosen. It was still fresh, but it seems that they still have some kinks to work out.

That said, its a wonderful addition to the area and will now vie with Michaels Fresh Market for my food shopping dollars, but for those who have not been ot the Niles outlet, its worth a visit if you are ever in the area.

I agree. I went there last night after 9pm. The place was deserted. Overall, I wasn't as impressed as I was with the Niles store. The prices also seemed higher than I had expected. I enquired about the food court and was told it will open around Christmas. You can't see that space currently because of the partition separating the vacant Walgreens next door where the food court will be. There will be around 15 tenants, 6 of which will be food, and others will include a hair-cutting place. That sounds similar to the Niles store.

I went there again on a Sunday afternoon (yesterday), and it was a different world. Very busy, lots of stations offering free samples of dumplings and other things, bigger seafood selection, more sales.

Not sure how I feel about the Super H. My father lives near the one in Des Plaines and I rather like it so I was excited when I found one opening close to home for me. Unfortunately, the odor in Naperville store was enough to bring you to your knees. The rancid seafood smell in there was horrific. I stopped in there to pick up palm sugar and a few other things. It was so bad that my girlfriend smelled it immediateley upon entering my condo (I had not previously mentioned the terrible smell in there so it was without any preconcieved notions) when she got there a few hours later in the evening and we discovered it had seeped into the the paper on the label of the palm sugar, a few other jars I had gotten and the msg that I had bought. I was in there for a half hour and it had permeated my hands and my shirt slightly as well. I had to leave everything outside for over a day to get the smell out. I loved the selection and they were exceedingly helpful with helping me find a few things, but they're going to have to find a way to get it aired out or I can't go back. It's too bad because most of the Asian food marts in this area exponentially less stocked than Super H is. But if several items that size could have that bad of a smell on them, I don't know if I can keep shopping there. Plus I shudder to think to what would happen with the vegetables sold on that day as well.

We visited the Naperville H-mart for the first time this evening. As other posters have mentioned, this is a far cry from the one located in Niles both in quality of items, selection, cleanliness, staffing and organization. Also there was a clear bait & switch promotion on-site this week.

Jay K wrote:Also there was a clear bait & switch promotion on-site this week.

You peaked my interest. What was the promo?

wak wrote:

Jay K wrote:Also there was a clear bait & switch promotion on-site this week.

You peaked my interest. What was the promo?

Well, not exactly bait&switch, but here was the situation:

One issue of possible "bait-and-switch" (sort of) involved the advertised special of a 2.2lb bag of frozen mixed seafood (often used in Korean dishes) on sale for $2.99 - so clearly a draw-them-into-the-store type of promotional item.

Well... clearly they didn't want to sell this product at the advertised price.
1) It was hidden away in the corner of the last freezer unit.

2) An instore non-related demo booth was placed directly in front of the unit, so that patrons could not get to the item or open the freezer door where it was located.

3) I watched a lady ask the girl manning the booth to hand her the advertised item (the sale sign was sans price & this store had an additional LIMIT 1 sign - not noted in the ad). The girl told the lady, "Oh no, it's not the 2.2lb bag that's on sale - it's this 1lb bag here. That other one's $7.99" Well, the lady didn't fall for it and asked for the right bag.

4) I got one for myself after the demo girl left her booth - had to physically move a huge trashcan to get the freezer door open.

5) At checkout, it rang up $7.99; I pointed out the wrong price. The cashier immediately said, "Oh you must have got the wrong one - and proceeded to place it into a shopping bag." I brought an ad out and it took 3 people from their staff to confirm the price (albeit it only took a few seconds to confirm - they made 3 people check the ad out in front of me all the while stating it must be the wrong item).

6) Now this is a promotional item on the ad. It's safe to assume that this product is being sought/purchased regularly - and nobody decided to fix the price in the computer? This item has been on sale for days now.

As I was leaving I heard another lady in the adjacent checkout lane have the same problem. The SAME individuals who "price-checked" my item gave her the same run-around, despite having just checked the item with me.

If it walks like it's shady, and quacks like it's shady... it's shady...

i am also disappointed by the new store - i was very impressed by the Niles location, and i visited the Naperville location on opening weekend and was also impressed, until i took my mom this past weekend. a lot of the produce was not very good quality, a lot of it was not well priced (a pomegranate for $3? in H-Mart? seriously?) and and overwhelming bad fishy smell hit us when we walked in the door. sad to say, i don't think i'll be returning.

Now the INTERESTING item that I saw at the Naperville H-mart was the sale of "fresh" rambutans - which looked worse for the wear and were selling at $5/lb.

I'd just had my first taste of rambutans, Hawaii-grown, last month in Honolulu - $2.50/lb sold at Costco in a 2lb container.





Again, the above photos are the Hawaiian-grown Costco-sold rambutan; Sadly not available here.

Today I drove by another store under construction - International Market aka Grand Mart aka Mercado Grande in an old K-Mart space on Aurora Ave. It was a little unclear whether it was really under construction or not, but some of the permits on the front were dated 09/07 so maybe things are just getting under way. I took a look at grand-mart.com and it says that its another Korean supermarket - sometimes specializing in Mexican as well as Asian foods.

Anyone know about this?

And by the way - for those who were a little disppointed with the new H-Mart, don't forget about Michael's Fresh Market on Rt. 59. They have a huge produce dept and interesting ethnic ingedients, although the fish selection is weak.

Has this H-Mart opened a food court yet?

LAZ wrote:Has this H-Mart opened a food court yet?

No, not that I have seen. Last I heard it is supposed to be open soon, though.