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Mega Mart, a Korean grocery store chain, plans to open its largest Bay Area location at 1775 East Bayshore Road in East Palo Alto on Sept. 25, according to city staff, replacing a Target that closed over a year ago.
The 50,000 sq. ft. location is set to offer authentic Korean groceries, Korean beauty goods, a bakery, a takeout spot with hot food, dining space and a coffee bar, according to the grocery store’s social media page.
About 100 staff would oversee daily operations and the store plans to hire approximately 150 employees total, including a trained security guard to monitor the store’s interior, exterior and surrounding areas, according to the property application.
Locals expressed interest in more community engagement with Mega Mart staff to ensure the store prioritizes East Palo Alto residents in the hiring process.
“I haven’t seen anything in the community,” former city council member Larry Moody during public comment period of a Monday meeting of the Planning Commission. “Its one thing to have a billboard outside of the retail center, but nothing in the community hubs, faith community, where people gather, talking about recruitment for opportunities of employment. That’s very concerning to me.”
The store has already hired about 100 people but it is unclear how many are East Palo Alto residents, said a representative with Mega Mart at the Monday meeting. It hired the group through online job postings with a poster outside of the store listing the link.
“I know we have been hiring mostly locally. I did mention the online job openings but our team has been in the store and then if anyone came by with the application, we did an interview on site,” the representative said. “They have been hiring that way too.”
Planning commissioners expressed interest in Mega Mart broadening its reach to include more East Palo Alto residents, which the representative agreed to do.
The closure of East Palo Alto’s Target closure, as well as a CVS pharmacy inside the store, marked a significant loss in the community, leaving residents concerned about where to access basic necessities and prescriptions in the city.
More seven years ago, the Target was the first to open in the city and its CVS was the only local commercial pharmacy – its closure left only one other in East Palo Alto.
Residents called for more transparency regarding the closure of the store, which Target representatives attributed to “underperformance.”
Some public speakers and city staff expressed concerns about Mega Mart’s loss prevention tactics, especially surrounding alcohol, but the store representative said it would not lock up its goods because of its unique layout.
“Staff actually took a tour of Mega Mart about a week or so ago and the way they’ve established the store is that it really is funneled toward the interior of the store so it’s not easy to take the alcohol and run out, so they have given it some thought,” said East Palo Alto Planning Division Manager Elena Lee.
The store does not plan to use traditional aisles but a maze-style layout that goes in one direction, according to the Mega Mart representative.
“With respect to Target and Target leaving East Palo Alto. there were issues with loss prevention but apparently those were not the only issues. Target was looking for a way to get out period, not just exiting this market but several markets,” said Commissioner Robert Sherrard.
Mega Mart currently operates two stores in California in Fremont and Sunnyvale and is in the process of opening two more locations in Dublin and La Miranda, according to East Palo Alto Planning Commission documents.
The store plans to operate the East Palo Alto location seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
