T&T Supermarket is a Canadian Asian supermarket chain offering a wide range of fresh produce, meat, seafood, and authentic specialty items from various Asian cuisines. It also sells kitchenware and gifts, and has in-store kitchens and bakeries. T&T Supermarket was founded in Vancouver in 1993 by Jack and Cindy Lee who was the founding CEO. Cindy's eldest daughter Tina Lee succeeded her mother in 2014. In 2009, T&T Supermarket was acquired by Loblaw Companies Limited. The stores range in size from 35000 sqft to 75000 sqft. In addition to the many departments found in a regular supermarket, most T&T stores also have an in-house bakery, hot food bar, dim sum counter, sushi counter and Hong Kong style Chinese barbecue. T&T Supermarket currently has 36 locations in Canada. In 2020, they launched an online shopping platform and an app. T&T Supermarket is set to open its first American location and flagship outlet in Bellevue, Washington in 2024. The outlet, spanning 76,000 square feet, will be the largest Asian supermarket in the state. A second American location will open in Lynnwood, Washington, north of Seattle, in 2025, followed by a third location at Westgate Center in San Jose, California, also set to open in 2025. "T&T" is a reference to the initials of Cindy Lee's eldest daughters, Tina and Tiffany, and the two founding investing managing corporations, Tawa Supermarket Inc. and Tung Yee Uni-President Enterprises Corp.

History

Establishment and early history

Taiwanese-Canadian businesswoman Cindy Lee started the business with a store located in Burnaby, British Columbia in 1993. On March 5, 2007, The Tyee reported a case of a foreign temporary worker who claimed to have been exploited, and had his passport seized by T&T Supermarket. According to The Tyee's coverage, "In a notice of claim filed with the small claims division of the Provincial Court of British Columbia, Gui Qiang Zou claims he was pressured into working longer hours for lower wages than promised after the firm kept his passport and other key documents."

Acquisition by Loblaw

T&T is part of Loblaw Companies, which purchased it in July 2009 for $225 million in consideration, consisting of $191 million in cash and $34 million in preferred shares. The consideration paid above and beyond the tangible asset base of the company (i.e. the accounting goodwill) which was estimated at $180 million. In 2012, Huff Post Business Canada reported that workers at a T&T Supermarket warehouse in Scarborough, Ontario, would head to a secret ballot vote on Monday, July 23, 2012, for unionization. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) filed an application for certification with the Ontario Labour Relations Board on July 16, 2012. According to UFCW national representative Kevin Shimmin, the workers at the T&T Supermarket Scarborough warehouse, are seeking unionization to attempt improving scheduling issues as well as tying wage more closely to seniority, instead of favouritism. Shimmin gave in the article an example that Warehouse staff at T&T Supermarket worked a 39-hour work week, spanning six days in a week. He also said that there were cases where staff working for T&T Supermarket for three years were still earning a minimum wage of $10.25 per hour. Paul Ho, marketing manager for the grocery chain in Ontario, said he did not have details about wages, but maintained that work hours "var[ied] from individual to individual, and depends on the production schedule." On July 23, about 100 employees at the T&T Scarborough warehouse voted partcipated in the secret ballot unionization vote. However, the Ontario Labour Relations Board sealed the ballot box for review. A dispute arose as the UFCW and T&T Supermarket argued about the eligibility of the voters in the voter list. UFCW national representative Kevin Shimmin said that the dispute caused the secret ballot vote to be reviewed, while T&T CEO Cindy Lee claimed that it was the decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board to look into whether the union has enough support from employees to in the first place file the application.

Development of largest T&T store and e-commerce platform

In 2018, T&T opened a 70,000 sq. ft. flagship store in Richmond, British Columbia, which was the first to have a live seafood bar, an Asian street food station, and self-checkouts. Industry experts dubbed the store a "grocerant" because of its restaurant-style offering. In 2020, T&T launched its e-commerce platform, facilitating online orders and delivery of Asian food products across all provinces in Canada. In 2022, an even larger store was opened in Saint-Laurent/Sainte Croix, Montreal, Quebec. It was the first T&T store to open in Quebec and is currently the largest store in the supermarket chain.

Expansion into the United States

In June 2023, T&T Supermarket announced that they would open their first store in the United States at the Marketplace at Factoria in Bellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. The store, a former Walmart location, is 76,000 sqft and is scheduled to open in 2024. A second American location, north of Seattle in Lynnwood, Washington, is scheduled to open in 2025. A third location at Westgate Center in San Jose, California in the San Francisco Bay Area is also set to open in 2025.

Locations

Canada

British Columbia

Alberta

Ontario

Quebec

United States

Washington

California

Former locations

Awards

In 2018, CEO Tina Lee received the Executive of the Year Award by Ascend Canada and, together with founder Cindy Lee, were awarded with the Retail Council of Canada Canadian Grand Prix Trailblazer Lifetime Achievement Award for having "demonstrated outstanding service and dedication to the Canadian retail and grocery industry." Cindy Lee received the lifetime achievement award at the 2019 Chinese Canadian entrepreneur awards in recognition of her contributions to the Chinese Canadian business community. In 2021, Tina was inducted into the inaugural Grocery Business Hall of Fame, and was listed as one of British Columbia’s Top 500 Most Influential Business Leaders.