T&T Supermarkets plans California store

Canada’s T&T Supermarkets said Thursday that it has secured its first California location, which will be its third in the U.S.

The Asian grocer, which is a subsidiary of Canadian supermarket giant Loblaw Cos., currently operates 33 stores across Canada. The planned 55,000-square-foot store in San Jose’s Westgate Center is set to open next fall and will occupy a site that previously housed a Walmart Neighborhood Market.

The location is across the street from a Sprouts and a Trader Joe’s, about a mile from both a Nob Hill Foods store and a Grocery Outlet. It’s also less than four miles away from local outlets of two other large Asian grocery chains, H Mart and 99 Ranch.

“We aim to create a destination,” said Tina Lee, CEO of T&T Supermarkets. “It’s a place for discovery, innovation, and bringing people together through food.”

The new location will feature a BBQ counter, noodle station, dim sum and street food section, hot food bar, and a made-to-order Chinese crepe station. The store will also have an in-store bakery offering mochi puffs, egg tarts, Hong Kong-style pastries, and custom cakes. Other offerings will include the chain’s signature private-label products, including pineapple cakes, Taiwanese sausages, soup pork dumplings, and green onion pancakes.

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In Canada, Richmond, British Columbia-based T&T Supermarket stores are known for their prepared foods in addition to their wide assortment of authentic Asian products and service departments, which include a full-service meat counter and live seafood tanks.

Last year, T&T announced its planned expansion to the U.S. with a 76,000-square-foot flagship store in Bellevue, Wash., which is scheduled to open in the coming months. In May of this year, the company unveiled plans for a second Washington location, in Lynwood, which is scheduled to open next summer. That store will measure 30,000 square feet.

Last November T&T also said it had hired Chris Pine, formerly executive VP of anchors and big box leasing at Brookfield Properties in the U.S., as head of real estate for T&T Supermarkets U.S. to spearhead the chain’s U.S. expansion efforts.

T&T was founded in 1993 by Tina Lee’s mother, Cindy Lee, who immigrated to Canada from Taiwan. It was acquired by Loblaw in 2009.

Tina Lee, who was named CEO in 2014 when her mother retired, said T&T seeks to create a unique, experiential environment.

“We want to evolve our grocery store beyond the functional,” she said. “We want to be the place where people want to go, not just need to go.”

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