Back in January 2013, I provided a list of small/mini markets which offered a lot of Korean food outside of New Malden and Central London. Now I’m going to look at the supermarket Hmart.
After a quick lunch in New Malden, I went for a stroll to find the location of Hmart. I first heard of this supermarket from my recent trek to this year’s Kingston Korean Festival. An employee had given me a leaflet explaining the origin of Hmart and when it first came to life so I thought I’d let curiosity take over and pay a visit to do some quick grocery shopping with the family.
Hmart originally started in New York back in 1982 and after expanding to other US states over the years it eventually came to New Malden in 2010. I didn’t spend the entire day in H Mart but during my 30 mins browse around the place, I was very impressed with what it had to offer. It’s not as big as Wing Yip in Cricklewood, which is where we sometimes go for Oriental food shopping if we’re not able to head to Seoul Plaza in Golders Green but Hmart has a ton of things to shop for. You can’t go wrong with the Korean groceries. It’s like all the Seoul Plaza stores I’ve been to combined together.
Not only is there a great deal of Korean food and kitchen utensils or china to gush over, you can find your favourite Chinese/Thai/Japanese/Malaysian food as well. The seafood counter is close to the main entrance of H Mart -just behind the fruit shelves- so you will most likely encounter a heavy fish smell as soon as you walk in. Hmart has enough space for you to freely move your trolley around the shelves without bumping into people so much.
Staff service was friendly and very polite. The cashier who scanned our items also notified us of a limited, special event where customers who became H Mart members could get free gifts if they spent a certain amount at H Mart and gave us a flyer to take home to read. General food pricing here could be competitive when put next to Seoul Plaza. It also depends what particular foods you want to buy. If you can’t find something in Seoul Plaza, you might get a better deal in Hmart. Or vice versa.
Opening times are as follows:-
Mon – Sat ~ 09:00 – 21:00
Sunday ~ 12:00 – 18:00
Unless you are a very fast walker, it might take you 10 – 15 minutes to walk to Hmart from the town centre. Otherwise best to jump on buses 213 and 131 to get there.
1 Comment
I’ve been here before and I would recommend this place too… it’s almost like a little bit of Korea all by itself in the middle of London!