The H Mart in Davis Square has an estimated opening date of Jan. 9, according to a worker at the 240 Elm St. location on Thursday. (Update on Dec. 26, 2024: The Jan. 9 opening is confirmed by the company’s marketing department.)
The location began advertising this week – with a display in its corner entryway – that it would devote part of its square footage to Artbox, a chain of cute and inexpensive Korean toys, tchotchkes, stationery and housewares.
Artbox reportedly has opened 120 branches in Korea since launching in 1984 and has more than 40 branches overseas. In the United States, many are inside H Marts, which has more than 80 locations since opening its first in the 1980s in New Jersey.
After a bfresh grocery store closed at the prominent Davis Square location Oct. 12, 2023, Somervillians were excited to see the Asian grocery store chain – famous for its produce, hard-to-find ingredients and treats, and food courts – announce in April that a branch would be moving in. It will be the area’s second H Mart after one in Cambridge’s Central Square.
A dangled opening date of June was missed, though, and no visible work was being done at the site after months, raising questions of if it would languish like an announced branch on the Medford-Malden line; that Middlesex Avenue site has seen no progress for even longer.
After articles in September and October noted the lack of progress and inspired Somerville staff to inquire at H Mart, the site suddenly saw action starting in mid-October. Workers buzzed around for weeks, delivering and placing shelving. As of the past week, there are products on that shelving.
A worker outside the store was asked if an opening date had been offered and supplied the the Jan. 9 date, which could not be immediately confirmed. H Mart had not in the past responded to requests for information.
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