At one end of the Niles Civic Center, across from the Municipal Building and the Senior Center, sits an enormous box store. It's not another Walmart, but something far less familiar: a Super H Mart, part of a national chain of grocers who specialize in food from Korea.
Niles is home to many European ethnic groups, and its Korean community is now growing to join them at the center of village life. In recent years, Koreans have migrated from neighborhoods in northern Chicago to nearby suburbs — including Glenview, Northbrook and Niles — in search of better economic and educational opportunities.
The Super H Mart, which opened in 2006, has been an important force behind relocation. Woo Sung Choi, the energetic young man who serves as the store's assistant manager, said that his employer provided a base for Koreans moving out of the city. "Before the H Mart was here, Koreans didn't have a big grocery store or a cornerstone of a Korean community, but after H Mart came to Niles, it became a symbol and a big part of the Korean community," he said. "Many other stores built around us."
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