A Slice of Korea on Steinway: H Mart Moves In

It’s a Thursday afternoon, and I’m on Steinway Street in Astoria. The sun is playing peekaboo with the clouds, casting long shadows over the sidewalk. Eddie, owner of the bodega on the corner, is sweeping up outside. He’s been here since ’02, and he’s seen things change. Retail rents are surging upwards, reaching heights as dizzying as the skyline that’s starting to crop up.

“Ninety a square foot, can you believe it?” he shakes his head, puffing on a cigarette. “Used to be you could get a spot for half that. You know, when the old Greek bakery was still here.”

Eddie’s talking about the new kid on the block, H Mart. The Korean grocery chain has just signed a lease at Steinway Tower, a sleek rising star at 31-19 Steinway St. It’s the kind of place that promises more than just groceries; it promises a cultural anchor, a bridge to a different world for Astoria’s diverse community.

Astoria is a place with a rich palette of sounds and smells, where you can hear Greek, Spanish, Arabic, and now, Korean, in the same breath. But as rents climb, the question lingers: what happens to the little guys?

I walk a couple of blocks over to 25th Avenue where I meet Mrs. Kim, who has run a small Korean deli for the last fifteen years. “H Mart, they big,” she says in her lilting accent, while slicing some kimchi. “They bring good kimchi too, but me, I bring different. Home taste.”

Mrs. Kim tells me about the time when she first arrived in New York. “No Korean market then,” she recalls, eyes twinkling with the memory. “Only little store by Mr. Lee. Now, there are many, but we each have our own flavor.”

The conversation shifts to community over the hum of the fridge and scent of freshly made bibimbap. “Good thing maybe,” Mrs. Kim shrugs. “More people come for H Mart, maybe find me too.”

I think about what Eddie said earlier, about rents and the changing landscape. The story is familiar: new money moves in, and with it, the threat of homogenization. But Astoria has always been a patchwork: old meeting new, each wave of arrivals weaving into the next.

Back on the street, I stand in front of the looming Steinway Tower. Its glass exterior reflects the sky, capturing both the steady march of progress and the underlying tension of change.

I take a moment on this autumn day, watching people hustle by: a young couple pushing a stroller, an older man trailing with a cane, and a group of teens joking in a mix of English and Korean. It’s a scene that plays out across the city, where new and old constantly intermingle.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Eddie says as I pass by his bodega again, laughter escaping into the air from a group of kids buying candy. “When city changes, you adapt or you don’t. That’s New York, right?”

And that’s Astoria. It ebbs and flows with waves of change, yet, somehow remains anchored in a sense of community. The arrival of H Mart is another chapter in the story, a sign of the times, but also a new opportunity for connection across cultures.

As I leave Steinway Street, the flickering neon of shop signs begins to blend with the early evening light. The Q train thunders by, and in the middle of it all, the city hums on, its heart beating to the rhythm of its people.

In a few weeks, when H Mart finally opens its doors, I wonder what stories will unfold within its aisles, what new faces will join the tapestry that is Astoria. And who knows? Maybe Eddie’s bodega will start carrying a few more Korean snacks, just to keep things interesting.

— Frank Donovan · Columnist