Residents line up for opening of long awaited H Mart store anchoring 'Houston's next Asian Town'

Katy is the quickly becoming greater Houston’s next “Asian Town.”

With H Mart, a 40,000-square-foot Asian grocery store that has anchored itself inside the massive 15.5-acre Katy Asian Town shopping center officially open as of Friday, Sept. 21, it's easy to see why.

Residents lined up outside of the H Mart store for its grand opening, which featured a Korean Traditional Folk Dance and Chinese Lion Dance, ribbon cutting with the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce and free gifts.

“The Asian-American population continues to move west,” said Milton Young, president of Houston’s Asian Chamber of Commerce. “Fort Bend County has a huge Asian-American population. Sugar Land is a big destination spot, as well as Katy.

“Katy is kind of like Sugar Land 2.0. The Asian Town in Katy, in a way, is just kind of a natural extension of what we see going on with Asian-American businesses. Katy Asian Town is well situated to serve the population from Sugar Land, as well as from Katy.”

SUBURBAN ASIAN CENTERS: Mala Sichuan Bistro plans to expand to Katy

According to U.S. Census data from 201Mala Sichuan Bistro 7, Asians made up more than 20 percent of people living in Fort Bend County, where roughly 760,000 people call home. Harris County, which has a population of about 4.6 million, is made up of about 7.3 percent of Asians. In Sugar Land, 38 percent of the population is Asian.

Young believes that Asian families, although diverse, have one thing in common and that’s what makes them attracted to the area.

“A strong school system,” Young said. “The opportunity to live and work in an attractive area is always very strong, but having a strong school system is very attractive to all the Asian communities. So whether you're Indian American, Chinese American, Vietnamese American, having a strong school system is going to be very important.”

Lance LaCour, president and CEO of the Katy Area Economic Development Council said the EDC in recent years had seen a trending increase of new Asian-owned businesses opening and locating in the Katy area both near Katy Asian Town and outside of Katy Asian Town; which has had over 15 businesses locate there.

UH KATY BREAKS GROUND: New campus will focus on engineering, nursing programs 

H Mart, which features Korean produce, seafood, ready to cook meals, a food court and a bakery, i now open alongside other Asian-owned businesses inside the 100,000-square-foot Katy Asian Town located at the northeast corner of Interstate 10 at the Grand Parkway.

Some stores have already opened, such as Papa Beards, a Japanese chain specializing in cream puffs; and Yummy Pho & Bo Ne, a Vietnamese restaurant. Others are yet to open.

Outside of Katy Asian Town, there is Tobiou Sushi Bar on Cinco Ranch Boulevard and Tiger Noodle House on Interstate 10 and Mason Road.

zTao Marketplace opened earlier this month with an array of Asian products and imports, including live crab and tilapia.

And last month, Japanese discount store Daiso moved to the Mason Road area. The store carries around 7,000 items, according to a previous Chron.com article.

RETAIL WRAP: Beard Papa's makes Texas debut in Katy

But it’s not just retail and restaurants, LaCour said.

Companies such as TMEIC, which is a joint venture between Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric-manufacturing, Kobelco, a Japanese steel manufacturer; and InfoTM, a Chinese technology company. Air-conditioning manufacturing company Daikin, which is headquartered in Japan, located on U.S. 290 near Katy, has hired nearly 4,000 employees, LaCour said.

Young said he hasn’t seen Asian-owned businesses clustering, except for Katy Asian Town in Katy.

“I think Katy Asia town is the first real cluster that you would see outside of the Bellaire Boulevard area, because if you go down to Stafford there, they're going to be several Asian-owned businesses. But this is this is the first clustering outside of the Bellaire Boulevard area.”

Bellaire Boulevard is the second Asian Town to exist in the greater Houston, Young said, adding that east downtown was once known for its Asian-owned businesses.

“A lot of businesses moved out of that area and opened up along Bellaire Boulevard and in West Houston,” he said. “That’s been a long process going on for years now. The concentration of Asian-owned businesses, especially on the retail side, the restaurant side and the real estate side and some of the services like the Hope Clinic, those have all opened up in the Bellaire Boulevard area in what they call the Southwest Management District.”

The number of Asian-owned businesses can only increase, he said.

The port of Houston, the amount of land available in Katy, a stable economy and strong bases of ethnic communities for the Chinese, the Vietnamese and even the Korean community are all factors that increase the opportunities for the Asian-owned businesses to thrive, he added.

michelle.iracheta@chron.com