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The largest Asian grocery chain in Canada is coming to Winnipeg’s Polo Park mall.
And a prominent Manitoban played a big part in making sure it finally happened, the company’s CEO says.
Richmond, B.C.-based T&T Supermarkets is slated to open a 48,000-square-foot store in the basement of CF Polo Park — in an area formerly used as a distribution centre by Sears, on the southwest corner — in spring 2028, the company confirmed Thursday.
It will be the first Manitoba store for the expanding Loblaws subsidiary, which operates 40 stores in B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and the U.S. and plans to open nine more, including its first in Manitoba.
It’s been a long road for the store to arrive in Winnipeg, CEO Tina Lee told CBC News on Thursday.
The logistics of shipping to Manitoba — far from the chain’s other stores — and maintaining inventory meant a multimillion-dollar investment into a regional warehouse in Ontario, and finding the right-sized space took time, she said.
Lee said that for 15 years, she’s received letters and messages from people in Winnipeg wondering when T&T would open. Former Manitoba lieutenant-governor Philip Lee (no relation) was a strong advocate for making it happen as far back as 2009, she said.
Tina Lee is CEO of T&T Supermarkets, which has been expanding its reach in recent years. She says a former lieutenant-governor was ‘so persistent’ about opening a shop in Winnipeg. (CBC)
“I’ll just never forget that in his position, he was so persistent in having a T&T,” Tina Lee said of the British monarchy’s representative in Manitoba, who served from 2009 to 2015.
“He was really trying to do something for his city. I feel grateful for that,” she said. “He’s the person that I’m thinking of right now.”
The Winnipeg store will feature the hallmarks the chain is known for, including a hot food bar and barbecue station serving Asian cuisine, a full-service bakery and live seafood.
And, Lee said, the company is not averse to flying in fresh seafood when required.
The produce section of a T&T Supermarket in Lynwood, Wash., a suburb of Seattle. (T&T Supermarket)
“We have the guts to fly and import product into Canada, and Winnipeg will be on the map now,” she said.
The store will also have a dedicated Asian beauty section with skin care and wellness products from China, Korea and Japan.
‘A great blessing’
The timing of the store is right, as Winnipeg’s east and southeast Asian populations have grown to become a major market segment, Lee said. A focus will be on serving the large number of people hailing from the Philippines, she added.
The chief executive estimated 70 per cent of products in a T&T can’t be currently found on Winnipeg shelves. The hope is the store will bring energy to the city’s food scene, she said.
The new Winnipeg store will be underground, in a space that’s been vacant since 2019. The mall is building escalators and elevators from a main-floor entrance at the southwest corner of the mall, said Peter Havens, general manager of CF Polo Park.
T&T is moving into this former Sears distribution centre in the basement of CF Polo Park. (Kevin Nepitabo/CBC)
A grocery store — the first at the mall since Safeway moved to Madison Square nearly two decades ago — was a perfect fit for both the space and the mall, Havens said.
“It’s a known brand. People understand who T&T is, what they offer, and they’re going to come here to seek that out,” he said.
The mall faces a greater challenge finding tenants for the former Hudson’s Bay space at the north side of the mall, said Havens, adding the mall may subdivide the space for multiple tenants.
WATCH | Asian grocery set to open in city in 2028:
Canada’s largest Asian grocer, T&T, coming to Winnipeg
T&T Supermarket plans to open its first Winnipeg location in the basement of CF Polo Park in spring 2028, the company confirmed Thursday.
The Polo Park store will be the company’s third collaboration with Cadillac Fairview, which owns and operates the mall. T&T opened a store at CF Fairview mall in Toronto in 2023 and expects to open a new store at CF Sherway Gardens in Etobicoke, Ont., next year.
“I can’t think of a better location than Polo Park mall,” Lee, calling finding the location “a real great blessing.”