Mega Asian grocery stores are booming in this part of the Bay Area. Not everyone's happy about it

On any given day, hundreds of people walk into the new H Mart in Dublin to grab trendy Buldak noodles in pink packaging, honey butter chips or seaweed tempura.

H Mart is emblematic of the new kinds of anchor tenants arriving throughout East Bay suburbs defined by strip malls, chain grocery stores and sprawling parking lots: popular Asian supermarkets.

By the end of the year, at least three major Asian grocery stores will have opened in the East Bay and a fourth flagship store is set to break ground - an economic boon and an occasional cultural flashpoint, with some long-time residents wary of change even as other residents embrace these new services and stores.

The excitement and tension reflect a rapid demographic transformation across the East Bay, similar to what communities saw in Silicon Valley amid the explosion of the tech industry in the 1980s and 1990s, as Chinese and Indian workers flocked to the South Bay. Asian residents in the East Bay now make up some of the fastest-growing populations in California - and the rise of Asian communities has helped fuel retailers' optimism about expanding in the area.

Dublin's H Mart, a Korean supermarket filled with kimchi and tteokbokki and an accompanying food hall, has become one of the chain's top-performing stores nationwide since it opened in March, according to the retailer.

While most residents have celebrated the new businesses, some locals have told the Chronicle and posted on social media that they don't welcome the new retailers. City officials said they've also heard from disgruntled residents who complain about overcrowded parking lots and, in their view, unappealing inventory.

Despite some criticism, local officials have celebrated the openings as economic drivers bringing attractive new retail to increasingly vacant storefronts and helping to drive sales tax revenue.

The businesses are also providing a major need in the community as demographics change, officials said. Asian supermarkets have gained mainstream appeal and perform better with all consumers than many other retailers, increasing their attractiveness for cities struggling to revitalize business corridors.

"We are so grateful (H Mart) picked us as a location," said Dublin Mayor Sherry Hu, who was recently dining at the food hall with friends and picking up fresh sashimi-grade fish from the grocery store to take home. "It actually draws people from across the region. Everybody is excited about the stores."

Not everybody.

Kathleen Heidenreich lives about a mile away from the H Mart in Dublin and said she's frustrated that the crowds have taken all the parking in the complex. She had to park several blocks away on a recent trip to the center to visit DSW, a shoe store. Heidenreich, who is 70, white and a Dublin resident of 16 years, said she misses Hobby Lobby and a fabric store, both of which have shuttered. She hopes for a different kind of retailer to fill the city's empty storefronts.

"I would love to see restaurants go in there," Heidenreich said. "Olive Garden, things like that. A little bit less expensive, but (it's) a sit-down healthy meal."

With 99 Ranch Market also in town, Heidenreich said she doesn't understand why another Asian market was needed. (99 Ranch is Taiwanese as opposed to the Korean H Mart.)

And yet the demand is clearly there. Over the past two decades, demographics have shifted dramatically in Dublin, Pleasanton and San Ramon. All three cities are now heavily Asian.

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Other parts of the East Bay with growing Asian populations have also become home to major supermarkets. Earlier this year, Tokyo Central, a Japanese grocery store, opened to massive lines that snaked around the 40,635-square-foot building at the Bay Street Emeryville mall. Emeryville is 31% Asian. Fremont, where H Mart is expected to break ground on a 100,000-square-foot, two-story flagship store later this summer, is nearly 64% Asian.

While Pleasant Hill has a lower share of Asian residents at about 17%, a popular Japanese grocery store and food hall is set to open downtown in a former Orchard's Supply Hardware Store. A spokesperson for Osaka Marketplace said the grocer selected Pleasant Hill for its new location due to the growing Asian community and accessibility via Interstate 680. The area is also lacking Japanese grocery stores and restaurants, the spokesperson said.

These types of retailers are often generating more revenue than other grocery stores. There is strong demand for Asian and other ethnic grocery products across all demographics. Demand for the retailers is growing faster than other grocery stores like Safeway and Sprouts, said Ben Lazzareschi, senior managing director at Newmark, a commercial real estate firm.

"Demand for Asian food - ramen, sushi, hot pot, Korean BBQ - it's exploded as a category," Lazzareschi said. "A big chunk of the shoppers that are now coming into these Asian grocery stores are non-Asian so they are becoming more mainstream grocery and dining destinations and pulling in that new shopper."

Kazuhiro Takeda, the director and general manager of Osaka Marketplace, said the success in their market is in part driven by how mainstream their products have become.

"Over the years, we've observed a significant increase in non-Japanese customers who are highly knowledgeable about Japanese products," Takeda said. "In some cases, customers are even introducing us to items we were previously unfamiliar with. This reflects how deeply Japanese food and culture have resonated with American consumers, and it reinforces our confidence in the region's continued growth."

Takeda said the retailer is looking to open more stores throughout the Bay Area and is eyeing locations in Sunnyvale, which is nearly 50% Asian; Dublin, which is about 55% Asian; and San Ramon, which is almost 50% Asian.

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Another factor in the success of Dublin's H Mart is its food hall. The Osaka Marketplace coming to Pleasant Hill will have its own food hall, which will offer ramen, katsu and bento boxes, and is expected to enhance the shopping experience.

The food hall and grocery store concept allows consumers to have an experience versus just "coming in and grabbing your produce and heading out," Lazzareschi said.

"There is much more to see and do while you're there," he added.

That draw can have a tremendous impact on a city's sales tax revenue and is one reason why Pleasant Hill Mayor Zac Shess said he's excited about the opening of Osaka Marketplace and so are his constituents. Residents have been clamoring for a different grocery store option than Safeway.

"This is big for us," Shess said. "With a third of our revenue coming from sales tax, having an anchor property like that is going to be really important."

In Fremont, the biggest H Mart in the country will break ground soon and will offer a food hall and dine-in restaurants. The exact opening date has not yet been announced, but Mayor Raj Salwan said the excitement is palpable among most residents who are looking forward to the groundbreaking at the Pacific Commons shopping center.

Pacific Commons, which already has a Costco and In N'Out, is a major draw for residents regionally and H Mart will only add to that traffic, Salwan said. The shopping center's location and existing customer base is why H Mart reached out to Fremont to open there, he added.

"We've got the community members, we've got the purchasing power and the cultures that are here already. Many of them are very excited to see H Mart coming to town," Salwan said.

But he added that he's heard backlash from some residents who want more steakhouses and other national chain restaurants.

"They don't want to see Applebee's or Denny's close down," Salwan said. "Some people don't want to see change."

Caroline Cho has embraced the change. Growing up in Pleasanton, Cho said she and her family often had to drive to Oakland or Santa Clara for Korean groceries that they couldn't find at 99 Ranch Market or other stores, like a specific Korean chili flake.

She and her family were limited in what kind of Korean cuisine they could cook because of the lack of available products.

On the day of H Mart's opening in Dublin, her mother's Korean friend group chat was exploding with excitement with several members lined up early at the store.

Cho and her best friend, who is Indian, went to the store on the second day.

"I was telling her what type of dishes to make and what tools to use," Cho said. "It was a new experience to me that was really meaningful because I can share that part of my culture with people who might not be that familiar with it."

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This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 10:37 AM.