An entire aisle just for noodles

The region’s first H Mart Korean supermarket is large enough, at 51,000 square feet, and the grocery store chain has such a dedicated following that town officials worried about the crowds expected for today’s grand opening.

“We just hope that the parking works out on opening weekend,’’ said Burlington planning director D. Anthony Fields, whose office fielded phone calls from several out-of-town fans expressing support for H Mart’s arrival.

Supermarkets like H Mart and Asian grocery competitors such as C Mart in Chinatown and Kam Man in Quincy have sprung up in Greater Boston the last few years, spurred by several factors:

The early success of Boston’s homegrown Asian grocery chain, Super 88; the blossoming of the area’s Asian population, which has grown by nearly 30 percent since 2000; and a growing general interest in Asian cuisine, which many view as a healthy alternative to the traditional American diet.

“Asian food and thus these Asian superstores, in particular, serve a clientele that goes beyond an Asian ethnic enclave,’’ said Paul Watanabe, director of the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, “and that phenomenon has been as significant as the growth in the Asian population.’’

Members of the Asian community - which grew in Massachusetts from 238,000 in 2000 to 305,000 in 2007, according to the Census Bureau - have been eagerly awaiting the opening of a local H Mart, a New Jersey-based Korean grocery chain with more than 40 locations nationwide.

Some followed the Burlington store’s progress through updates posted on Internet message boards, and for days now, people have been trying to walk through H Marts doors to shop, store manager Minnie Lee said.

“Oh yes, we’re all anticipating it,’’ said Shirley Tang, an associate professor of Asian American studies and American studies at the UMass Boston. Suburban Asian supermarkets reflect “an ongoing trend, which is that Asians no longer just settle in urban areas,’’ and they also highlight the “economic and social contributions of Asians.’’

According to researchers at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, Asian buying power nationwide is expected to surge from $269 billion in 2000 to $752 billion in 2013. In Massachusetts, the 10th-largest Asian consumer market in the United States, Asian buying power will equal more than $365 million in 2013, up from nearly $193 million in 2000.

In addition to drawing the Asian customers who form the core of their business, H Mart officials said they hope the Burlington store will become a destination for New England shoppers of all ethnicities.

During a tour of the store this week, manager Lee noted the market’s three “Western’’ aisles, stocked with familiar mainstream brands - Sauve and Pantene shampoos, Hood ice creams, Campbell’s soups, and Ocean Spray juices - as well as popular international brands like Goya, a maker of Latin American foods.

James Choi, a grocery department manager from an H Mart in New York, said he will be working at the new Burlington location for the next few weeks to help promote the store, especially to those unfamiliar with Asian food markets.

“We must advertise and notify them about Asian products, so we are going to have [cooking] demonstrations,’’ Choi said. “Come in and enjoy it. Just be interested in our world.’’

Tang from UMass said she believes H Mart will offer wide appeal. “People from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds come to Asian supermarkets and they feel at home,’’ she said.

David Lockwood, director of consumer insights at the market research firm Mintel, said there was little doubt that H Mart would attract customers whose tastes have increasingly become more international.

But he also wondered how the store’s size - which is comparable to the average footprint of mainstream chains - would affect the shopping experience.

“You would absolutely feel this is a full-line supermarket; this is not a mini mart,’’ Lockwood said of the new H Mart. However, he said, that might detract from the “authentic’’ experience that some shoppers seek in an ethnic grocery store.

Mom-and-pop stores “do have unique offerings, and in some cases they have almost inexplicably low-priced things,’’ Lockwood said.

“And once you get up into the 50,000-square-foot range, you have to fill it with lots of things that are not unique. It becomes a chore . . . I do suspect that that will be a hurdle.’’

Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.