You’ve heard of H Mart. Now, get ready for an Asian grocery store a little deeper into the alphabet: T Market.
On the second floor of Natick Mall, in a 75,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Wegmans, T Market is preparing to debut its inaugural store in late May or early June. The goal, said Theresa Liao, who is opening the store with her husband, Leon Yang, is to provide customers in MetroWest a one-stop-shop for everything from mochi cookies to roasted duck to Japanese eel.
That kind of robust store, with options from across the Asian continent — Korea, China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, and India — was lacking close to home, Liao said, adding that she often heard from people driving to Quincy, Burlington, or Boston’s Chinatown to take care of their whole shopping list. Liao and Yang had long been looking for a space big enough to bring that vision to life, and when Wegmans closed, they pounced.
“We heard a lot from either our friends, other people, talking, they always wish [there was] an Asian supermarket open,” said Liao, who lives in nearby Southborough.
In addition to a wide selection of snacks, produce, liquor, meat, and fresh seafood, shoppers can expect something of a supercharged mall food court: a hot bar slinging stir-fry dishes; specialty counters with dim sum, sushi, baked goods, Hong Kong-style barbecue, and pizza with Asian-inspired flavors; and a sit-down noodle bar restaurant with a visible kitchen to watch the chefs.
Alex Varon, associate vice president of leasing for GGP, the Chicago-based firm that owns and operates Natick Mall, said that a grocery store was “something we wanted to continue to offer at the property.” (The first floor of the former Wegmans space remains empty, and Varon was tight-lipped about what may move in.)
The T Market space — before Wegmans, it was a JCPenney — was “the last of the true anchor positions at the property” to be unfilled, Varon said. The former Neiman Marcus has been replaced by the massive Bosse pickleball venue; furniture store Raymour & Flanigan recently took over the onetime Lord & Taylor store; and the upper floor once occupied by Sears is now the “entertainment wing,” as Varon calls it, home to Level99 and Dave & Buster’s. The lower level of the former Sears is partially filled by electric vehicle vendor Lucid, and the remaining 56,000 square feet is soon set to house Pokiddo, known for its trampoline parks and indoor playgrounds for children.
“We, time and time again, have found ways to transform and evolve the property,” he said.
T Market is still in the midst of its own transformation. They’re finishing up the space, Liao said, and they’re getting ready to hire a staff of about 70 to 90. While she’s hoping to capitalize on shoppers patronizing the mall’s other new Asian retailers — including Pop Mart, of Labubu fame, and beverage purveyor Heytea — she also hopes to woo shoppers who might just be at the mall to stop into Macy’s or the Apple store.
“Maybe some of them [have] never been to an Asian supermarket before,” she said.
1245 Worcester St., Natick; tmarketus.com.
Dana Gerber can be reached at dana.gerber@globe.com. Follow her @danagerber6.