OCOEE, Fla. – A large sign on a blue fence surrounding the former Target Supercenter on West Colonial Drive in Ocoee has been promising an H Mart Korean supermarket in the space since 2021.
Now, there are new signs the long wait for Orlando’s foodies may be over soon.
On July 3, the Korean grocery store company posted listings on its jobs site for full and part-time associates. Each listing shows H Mart is looking for workers in several departments, including meat, seafood, produce, ready to cook, grocery, cashier, and more.
Requests for information from H Mart have gone unanswered. It’s still not known when the store will open.
H Mart is the largest East Asian supermarket chain in the United States, with dozens of locations across the country. It offers products from across the Asian content, as groceries you’d find at non-Asian stores.
The H Mart is also planning a food court. Paris Baguette and Kung Fu Tea are two of the local businesses that are expected to have locations.
The new H Mart is expected to be far larger than the company’s locations elsewhere in the country. The store is expected to be in the area of 183,000 square feet in size. An H Mart that opened in Las Vegas in April, for example, is 55,000 square feet.
For culinary aficionados, the arrival of an H Mart in Orlando is akin to the arrival of a Trader Joe’s or a Costco, and will be a major new entry in the area’s international food market scene.
Orlando has several Asian supermarkets along Colonial Drive, including Mei’s Supermarket in Union Park, iFresh Supermarket at East Colonial Drive and Bumby Avenue, Lotte Market on West Colonial Drive and John Young Parkway, and Enson Market on West Colonial near Kirkman Road.
[VIDEO: Check out the latest I-4 Food Tour video from News 6’s Matt Austin]