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Canadian supermarket chain From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
T&T Supermarket (Chinese: 大統華超市) is a Canadian 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 an extensive in-store kitchens and bakery selection.[3] T&T Supermarket was founded in Vancouver in 1993 by Cindy Lee and Jack Lee with Cindy operating the business as CEO.[4] Cindy's eldest daughter Tina Lee succeeded her mother in 2014 and continues to be the CEO today.[5] In 2009, a majority stake of T&T Supermarket was acquired by Loblaw Companies Limited.[6]
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![]() T&T Supermarket store in Aurora, Ontario | |
Company type | Subsidiary |
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Industry | Retail |
Founded | 1993 |
Founder | Cindy Lee |
Headquarters | Richmond, British Columbia |
Number of locations | 33 stores[1] |
Key people | Tina Lee (CEO) |
Products | Grocery |
Website | tntsupermarket |
T&T | |||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 大統華 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 大统华 | ||||||
Literal meaning | Big United China[lower-alpha 1] | ||||||
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T&T Supermarket | |||||||
Traditional Chinese | 大統華超市 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 大统华超市 | ||||||
Literal meaning | Big United China Supermarket | ||||||
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The stores range in size from 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) to 75,000 sq ft (7,000 m2). 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 33 stores in Canada, with plans to expand into the United States.
"T&T" is a reference to Cindy Lee's eldest daughters, Tina and Tiffany,[7] as well as the initials of two founding investors, Tawa Supermarket Inc. and Uni-President Enterprises Corp. (whose name in Chinese is romanized as "Tung Yee").[8]
Taiwanese-Canadian businesswoman Cindy Lee started the business with a store located in Burnaby, British Columbia in 1993.[9]
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."[10]
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.[11] The consideration paid above and beyond the tangible asset base of the company (i.e. the accounting goodwill) which was estimated at $180 million.[12]
With rapid expansion, T&T is Canada's largest Asian supermarket chain.[13] It has thirteen stores in British Columbia (all in Metro Vancouver), one in Quebec in Montreal, seven in Alberta (four in Calgary and three in Edmonton), and ten stores in Ontario (eight in the Greater Toronto Area, one in Waterloo, and one in Ottawa).[3] T&T Supermarket is set to open its first store in the United States, located in Bellevue, Washington.[14]
In 2012, T&T launched its own T&T brand, a collection of private label products such as crackers, dumplings, cakes, pastries, green tea and marinade sauce.[15] The company also started a rewards program for its customers who can collect points and redeem them in-store for gifts.
Huff Post Business Canada reported on July 17, 2012 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 staffs at T&T Supermarket are working a 39-hour work week, spanning six days in a week. He also pointed out that there are cases where staff have been working for T&T Supermarket for three years and are 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 "vary from individual to individual, and depends on the production schedule."[16]
The Globe and Mail reported on July 23, 2012 the result of T&T Supermarket Scarborough warehouse staff unionization. About 100 employees at the T&T Scarborough warehouse voted in the secret ballot vote on Monday July, 23. However, the Ontario Labour Relations Board sealed the ballot box for review. 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 Cindy Lee, founder at T&T Supermarket 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.[17]
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.[18][19]
In 2020, T&T launched its e-commerce platform, facilitating online order and delivery of Asian food products across all provinces in Canada.[20][21]
In 2021, an even larger store was opened in Montreal, Quebec. It was the first T&T store to open in Quebec and is currently the largest store of the supermarket chain.[22]
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 square feet (7,100 m2) and is scheduled to open in 2024.[23] A second American location, north of Seattle in Lynnwood, Washington, is scheduled to open in 2025.[24] A third location at Westgate Center in San Jose, California in the San Francisco Bay Area is also set to open in 2025.[25]
T&T had two stores in Toronto which have closed:
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."[34][35] 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.[36] 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.[37]
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