T&T Supermarket

History

Establishment and early history

Taiwanese-Canadian businesswoman Cindy Lee started the business with a store located in Burnaby, British Columbia in 1993.

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."

Acquisition by Loblaw

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. The consideration paid above and beyond the tangible asset base of the company (i.e. the accounting goodwill) which was estimated at $180 million.

Unionization history

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) filed an application for certification with the Ontario Labour Relations Board on July 16, 2012. Workers at a T&T Supermarket warehouse in Scarborough, Ontario, held a secret ballot vote on Monday, July 23, 2012, for unionization. The workers at the T&T Supermarket Scarborough warehouse sought unionization to attempt improving scheduling issues as well as tying wage more closely to seniority, instead of in-group favoritism. Warehouse staff at T&T Supermarket worked a 39-hour work week, spanning six days in a week and there were cases where staff working for T&T Supermarket for three years were still earning a minimum wage of $10.25 per hour. On July 23, about 100 employees at the T&T Scarborough warehouse voted participated in the secret ballot unionization vote. However, the Ontario Labour Relations Board sealed the ballot box for review. A 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 T&T CEO Cindy Lee 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.

Development of largest T&T store and e-commerce platform

In 2018, T&T opened a 70000 ft2 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.

In 2020, T&T launched its e-commerce platform, facilitating online orders and delivery of Asian food products across all provinces in Canada.

In 2022, an even larger store was opened in Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. It was the first T&T store to open in Quebec and is currently the largest store in the supermarket chain.

Expansion into United States

In 2024, T&T Supermarket opened its first American location at Marketplace at Factoria in Bellevue, Washington. The outlet, spanning 76,000 ft2, is the largest Asian grocery store in Washington state.

A 30000 ft2 Lynnwood, Washington location opened in the Lynnwood Crossroads center on November 13, 2025.

Awards

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." 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.

Notes

References

References

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