[1] The store was named after Hart's Groceries, which had over 100 locations in and around the city Rochester, NY by the 1920s.

[3][4][5] Hart's attracted considerable interest in Downtown Rochester, primarily due to downtown Rochester not having a full-services grocery since the closing of Midtown Market (formerly Wegmans Midtown) in 2002.

[2][3] The store's opening in January 2014 coincided with ongoing efforts to redevelop the former Midtown Plaza site on Main Street and the arrival in the downtown area of thousands of new residents in apartments and condominiums.

[2][3][6] Lovely Warren, the Mayor of Rochester, NY, was quoted saying, "For too long, downtown has been a food desert, our East End is already vibrant and the addition of will add to the vitality of the neighborhood".

[8][9][10] The grocery, was independently owned and financed in part through a private investor group.