The opening of a new Little Ferry H Mart awaits repaving of flood-prone parking lot

GRAND OPENING SOON! After the old H Mart in Little Ferry closed unexpectedly last July 31, customers of the Korean supermarket have been teased by signs in the new store at 260 Bergen Turnpike, above and below: "GRAND OPENING SOON!" and "BIGGER, BETTER, BRAND NEW!"

OPENING DELAYED UNTIL MAY 2020? Employees at H Mart's Lyndhurst headquarters wouldn't address a rumor that the new 43,000-square-foot supermarket in Little Ferry won't open until May.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The cyclone fence that now surrounds a large shopping center on Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry is a sign that the opening of a new H Mart has been delayed once again.

The old supermarket -- which operated in the other half of a sprawling building -- was one of the biggest H Marts in Bergen County (and also the shabbiest).

But the store drew customers for its low prices on produce, fresh fish, rice and many other items, as well as free Korean food samples on the weekends.

The old store closed unexpectedly last July 31, but company officials haven't announced an opening date for the new, 43,000-square-foot store and food court.   

The new and old H Marts are part of what once was known as the Valley Fair Shopping Center for the discount department store that operated there for many years.

Lawsuit, paving

A Little Ferry official said a lawsuit, which has been settled, delayed the opening of the new Korean supermarket, but she would not provide any details.

Last Thursday, an employee at the Lyndhurst headquarters of the Korean-American supermarket company said H Mart was waiting for a permit needed to make repairs to the parking lot, which is prone to flooding.

About a month ago, I drove past the new but unopened H Mart only to see a large puddle and a dozen or more seagulls where customers would be parking.

Today, I saw that a portion of that same lot has been torn up in preparation for repaving.

H Mart leases the space from the owner of the property, the employee said.

At 43,000-square-feet, the Little Ferry H Mart is bigger than another H Mart planned for American Dream, the megamall in East Rutherford. 

H Mart Smart Members

To buy fresh fish on Sundays ever since the old Little Ferry H Mart closed at the end of July 2019, I have been driving to the Super H Mart in Ridgefield or to 99 Ranch Market, the Chinese supermarket in Hackensack.

H Mart offers a "Smart Member" loyalty card that returns 1% of your purchases, redeemable for a $10 certificate after you spend $1,000 at its supermarkets.

Bad decisions

The long delay in opening a new supermarket in Little Ferry is the second time H Mart officials have acted against the interests of their customers in Bergen County. 

In 2018, company officials blindsided loyal Korean-American and non-Korean customers (like me) by closing the H Mart in Englewood -- a move that wasn't announced beforehand -- only days before a new H Mart opened at the traffic-choked Routes 17 and 4 intersection in Paramus.

That Englewood supermarket has been torn down.
  

Read: In 2015, customers thought

 Little Ferry H Mart was closing

Read: How H Mart screwed

 Englewood customers

WALKING THE DOG: On Dec. 21, a couple was seen walking their dog past unopened stores in the H Mart shopping center in Little Ferry.

MORE SHOPPING: The entrance to another store in the H Mart shopping center, this one near the entrance to the old supermarket, below.

MADISON WINE: A liquor store continues to operate just inside the entrance to the old supermarket.

PROPERTY OWNERS: Allied Builders and Management is the contractor for paving of the parking lot, not the owner of the property.

Shopping at new H Mart: One-car crash, red mullet, high prices, not many organics

RARE FIND: I hadn't seen whole red mullet in a fish market until I visited the new H Mart in a shopping center on Route 17 north in Paramus. My wife seasoned 10 of the small whole fish and pan-fried them for our Sunday dinner.

GREAT BUY: One of the best buys I saw on Sunday was a box of 16 Ataulfo or Champagne Mangoes from Mexico for $7.99 or about 50 cents each. The flesh is sweet and silken. The sign said 14, but all of the boxes I saw held 16.

KOREAN CHAIN SCREWS ENGLEWOOD,

 STARTS HOME-DELIVERY SERVICE

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

PARAMUS, N.J. -- Loud piped-in music, cramped grocery aisles, high prices for organics, and a food court that would save you only a few bucks over a full-service Korean restaurant.

Those are among my impressions after a first visit to a new H Mart that had its long-delayed grand opening on April 27 in a shopping center at Routes 17 and 4.

The 25,000-square-foot Korean supermarket would have been the seventh in Bergen County opened by the Lyndhurst-based chain, but H Mart closed its Englewood supermarket unexpectedly on April 23.

In a notice on the parking lot gates, customers were told the Englewood store had "relocated" to Paramus.

H Mart also launched home delivery of fresh produce, meat, seafood, eggs, milk and more to Englewood, as well Fort Lee, Palisades Park and Leonia.

A minimum order of $35 is required -- the service is called "H Fresh" --  and a delivery fee of $5.99 is waived for orders totaling $49 or more.

Paramus H Mart

The Paramus H Mart is not especially large, as you'll see if you try pushing a standard grocery cart down the narrow aisle with overpriced pasta sauces.

H Marts are known for their great produce, but I didn't see any organic Asian greens, and the organic salad mixes I did see were overpriced compared to Costco Wholesale.

The store was charging $5.99 for a pound of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, compared to $4.79 at Costco.

Mix-up

I also saw shelves labeled "ORGANIC" that were stocked with both organic and non-organic produce.

A highlight of the store is the seafood section, where I was surprised and delighted to find fresh, wild-caught red mullet ($5.99 a pound), a small fish  found near the South American coast and in the Mediterranean.

Among the free samples on Sunday were tiny portions of lobster salad and seared ahi tuna in a sesame dressing.

I'll likely return to shopping at the much bigger Little Ferry H Mart on Bergen Turnpike, near Route 46 -- shabbiest of the chain's Bergen County stores -- and wait for the grand opening of another new H Mart under construction and months behind schedule next door.

See: Do we really need more supermarkets?

DETAILS: The new H Mart is at 60 Route 17 north in Paramus; 1-201-708-2820. Open 7 days from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Website: H Mart is short for Han Ah Reum (One Arm Full of Groceries).

HIGHWAY DRAMA: On Sunday, I decided to use the ramp onto Route 17 north to reach the shopping center, and ran into a traffic jam caused by the cleanup of a one-car accident, above and below. The driver of a Chevy Camaro on the way to a car show across the highway lost control and took out a section of the guardrail, and in the process totaled his car.

PRODUCING PROFITS: The entrance of the new H Mart leads you to the produce section, the most profitable in this and every other supermarket. A food hall is behind the dramatically high brick arches, and the store also has a Korean bakery that serves coffee.

POKE AND SUSHI: Poke bowls, sushi rolls and fresh oysters on the half shell are available at this food stand.

SANG'S KITCHEN: The lure here is a full menu of Korean barbecue and soft tofu soup.

MISH MASH: Organic Strawberries, cheaper when they are on sale at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, and non-organic Campari Tomatoes were displayed on shelves labeled "ORGANIC."

MASH-UP: Organic Baby Romaine ($3.99 for just 5 ounces) was displayed next to non-organic Baby Kale.

FREE SEAFOOD SAMPLES: H Marts are known for their free food samples on weekends, and the Paramus store was handing out a little lobster salad, seared ahi tuna and other premium seafood samples.

WILD TIGERS: These frozen shrimp were labeled Wild Tiger Shrimp U4 (4 to the pound) for $25.99 a pound.

MORE WILD SHRIMP: Frozen Wild White Shrimp from the United States were $7.99 a pound.

SEAFOOD SECTION: The fresh and frozen seafood section in Paramus isn't as large as in some other H Marts, but the limited selection is all a seafood lover could ask for, above and below.

TUNA LOIN: Seared Ahi or Yellowfin Tuna Loin was $15.99 a pound.

ORGANICS? The absence of organic Asian greens, such as Chinese Broccoli, was a major disappointment.

SPLISH SPLASH: At home, pan-fried red mullet from H Mart needed only a splash of fresh lemon juice.