H Mart, a New Jersey based chain of large Asian grocery markets is possibly coming to Spokane. Reps connected to the project filed this week for a pre-development hearing with the City of Spokane to convert the former Sears store attached to Northtown Mall at 4700 N. Division into a new H Mart store and food court. This is not an actual building permit so it doesn't confirm the chain will open at this site, but does mean they are in some level of development at the site so we may see the project progress and eventually open a store there. Because of this we also can't be sure of an opening date or how many the project would end up employing.
However, in the public record documents filed with the pre-development request it shows the new H-Mart would occupy both floors of the former Sears department store. The store is under separate ownership from Northtown Mall despite being attached and has a total of just over 80,000 square feet of footprint. The first floor would be divided into departments like grocery, home goods, K Beauty / cosmetics and separated wholesale grocery area. The second floor of the building of the building would be largely used for on-site dining.
Second floor plans of the planned new Spokane H Mart call for a Cafe & Bakery area, Pub & Beer area and a food court area that is shown being divided into five separate restaurant spaces. There are no names shown on the restaurant spaces but will likely be similar to other H Mart stores with tenants being locally owned and operated Asian businesses. The center area of the second floor is planned to become an indoor seating area.
If built this will be first H Mart location in the Spokane market although other locations are already open in Western Washington. It's shown as estimated to be an $80 million construction project. H Mart is a New Jersey based chain of Asian stores with around 100 currently already open in the United States and other locations in Canada and the UK. For more information on H Mart, visit their website at https://hmart.com
