Hashi Japanese market has opened on Greenwich

Hashi Market 363 has opened in what seems like record time at 363 Greenwich just south of Franklin with two floors packed with Japanese frozen, packaged and prepared foods, produce, meats, stationery items, skin care products and lots of other truly unique items. The company, out of Tokyo, has simultaneously opened two other stores at Union Square and in Koreatown, and the plan, the manager said, is global domination. (Well, really a lot more stores in the city.)

Local kids are going to go nuts for this place, as evidenced by the young Tribecan below, who literally had her arms full.

I would say it is like a Japanese Morgan’s, but twice as big and with more grab and go (there is no deli but there is a chef downstairs) and more extensive meats and produce. I didn’t price much out — I was too flabbergasted — though the camera absorbed that six pieces of sushi is $12, in line with Whole Foods.

I bumped into Carl Glassman there and he said it wasn’t nearly as extensive as the Japanese markets in Boston that his daughter frequents, but I would put this on a par with Sunrise Mart on Broome. And it definitely could become a destination shop for other neighborhoods.

Upstairs is dedicated to food stuffs, downstairs to what was really an array of hair and skin care products, home cleaning products, an excellent Hello Kitty collection, and lots of items I couldn’t begin to categorize, like charcoal odor-eaters for sneakers or Post-it notes in tape form. A few things that caught my eye: dried mango crafted into a rose shape, for the ultimate flex on the charcuterie board; a huge array of potstickers, which my pal said she heats up in the rice cooker; Royce chocolate bars, which I wouldn’t know to love had the folks from Korin not sent me a delightful assortment at the holidays.

The manager, Gary, noted that since the owners are in Tokyo, they are able to source things that are not easily found in the US or even in Japan and just send them right over. “We have channels to get rare products,” Gary said, “things that are only sold in certain neighborhoods.” Look for the Air Freight label: that item was just flown in and is likely seasonal; it won’t necessarily be there when you go back. (Gary is a big fan of the chocolate cream puffs, for instance.)

NB: almost all of the packaging has no English description, but the shelf labels are pretty explicit.

Gary also noted that none of the prepared foods will stay in the store overnight. The chef will prepare everything daily. I will go back soonish with a pricing report. And I am not sure of the ADA plan — at the moment, since they are still repairing the vaults and sidewalk, there are two steps up to get in.

Hashi Market 363
363 Greenwich | Franklin & Harrison
hashi363@hashimarket.com
347-470-0888
Seven days, 8a to 9p

 

9 Comments

  1. Stopped by last week. Prices are competitive vs. Sunrise on Broome and this appears to be a more pleasant shopping experience (brighter, cleaner, more organized).

    I’m not sure about the Japanese claim, though. Many of the Japanese signs in the store are somewhat unnatural expressions to the native eye. Even in your last picture with Hokkaido pudding, the last kanji character is not actually Japanese, but a word meaning the same thing in simplified Mandarin.

  2. Looking forward to checking it out. We used to shop at Sunrise but recently had very bad experience with rude and unhelpful staff there, so we will never shop there again. Glad to have another option. There are also a couple Japanese specialty markets in the East Village which we frequent. There’s a large one on St. Mark’s Place (can’t recall the name), thought it might be a pop-up. Found good things at very good prices.

  3. Just left at 3:00 empty-handed. Selection of grab and go sushi was sad. Sorry I by-passed Whole Foods.

    • Give it another shot – I went twice on Saturday last weekend and the availability of grab/go prepared foods differed greatly (over about a three hour period). I sense the chef is getting used to supply and demand and supply will become more regular. Our grab and go sushi was quite nice and it seemed less expensive than WF.

  4. Finally – a closer spot for Northern Tribecans to grab an onion! I assume it does not bode well for the planned H Mart into the old Jin space. Does anyone know what is going on there?

  5. Just checked it out a few days ago and there are some frozen Korean dumplings and ramen packs along with the Japanese. I also overheard a worker speak Chinese to a food distributor. It’s still a good addition to the neighborhood.

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