T&T Supermarket

T&T Supermarket is Canada's largest Asian grocery chain, founded in 1993 in Burnaby, British Columbia by Jack and Cindy Lee. The Taiwanese-Canadian couple had arrived in Vancouver in 1976 and built an Asian food wholesale business near Chinatown before opening their first retail store at Metrotown, followed by a second location in Richmond one month later. The chain's name carries a dual meaning — it honours the founders' daughters Tina and Tiffany, and references two founding investor companies, Tawa Supermarket Inc. and Tung Yee Uni-President Enterprises Corp. Loblaw Companies acquired T&T in 2009 for $225 million.

From Vancouver to North America

T&T expanded beyond British Columbia in 1999 with a Calgary store, entered Ontario in 2002, and opened its first Quebec location in Montreal in 2022 — a 6,500-square-metre flagship that was the chain's largest store and created over 300 jobs. In December 2024, T&T crossed into the United States with a 76,000-square-foot store in Bellevue, Washington, described as the biggest Asian grocery store in the state. The chain now operates 38 locations across British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and Washington State, with planned U.S. expansion into Lynnwood and San Jose. CEO Tina Lee, Cindy's daughter, took the helm in 2014 when her mother retired.

The T&T Experience

T&T stores typically span 35,000 to 80,000 square feet and stock over 20,000 unique items alongside more than 400 private label products. Beyond groceries, the in-store experience includes live seafood tanks, sushi bars, bakeries, BBQ stations, dim sum counters, and Hong Kong-style barbecue. The chain employs 5,300 to 6,000 people and supports its growing customer base through a mobile app with over 10,000 products, multi-language support in English and Chinese, and payment options including WeChat Pay and Alipay.

A Canadian Success Story

T&T has won multiple industry awards, including the Retail Council of Canada's Trailblazer Lifetime Achievement Award for Cindy and Tina Lee. What began as a single store serving Vancouver's Asian communities has become a nationally recognized grocery destination that bridges cultures through food.