The H Mart story starts with cabbage.
In 1982, Il Yeon Kwon, a Korean immigrant, realized that New Yorkers needed a reliable source for napa cabbage, the essential ingredient in kimchi, and opened a small grocery store in Queens. Over the next four decades, the store became the country’s largest international supermarket chain, known for its kaleidoscopic pantry aisles, frozen seafood and neatly packed containers of banchan.
