Asian grocery chain T&T Supermarkets plans third U.S. location
A banner owned by Canada's Loblaw Companies is looking to grow in the United States.
T&T Supermarket Inc., the largest Asian grocery chain in Canada, will open its first location in California in the fall of 2025, a 55,000-sq.-ft. store at Westgate Center in San Jose. The company has two previously announced U.S. stores in the works, a flagship in Bellevue, Wash., and a store in Lynnwood, Wash.
T&T, which is based in Richmond, British Columbia, currently operates more than 33 stores across Canada. Stores offer a vast selection of authentic Asian products, fresh produce, full service meat counter, live seafood tanks as well as an in-store prepared foods program.
The Westgate store, which will be in a former Walmart 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.
“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. We want to evolve our grocery store beyond the functional – we want to be the place where people want to go, not just need to go.
The developer of Westgate Center is real estate investment trust Federal Realty, which also is the principal owner and developer of Santana Row, a destination mixed-use neighborhood in San Jose.
"The first time I visited a T&T, it blew my mind," said Jeff Kreshek, Western Region president of Federal Realty. "I came back from Canada thinking, 'we have to make this happen'. People don't know what they are missing. T&T is a dynamic concept that caters to the eclectic interests and preferences of our community. To take the T&T experience and put it into Westgate Center – it’ll be a force multiplier.”
