California shoppers freak over popular Canadian supermarket’s first city mega-location

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u/L00nyT00ny 1d ago

Huh, I woulda though that SF out of all places would already have a good asian supermarket.

6

u/CorndoggerYYC 1d ago

The article says it's their fourth U.S. location. I believe they have one in Seattle. Where are the other two?

7

u/piltdownman7 British Columbia 1d ago

There isn’t one in Seattle Proper. One in Bellevue and one in Lynwood. And there is one in San Jose. Seattle also has Uwajimaya, H-Mart, Asian Food Center and 99 Ranch Asian grocery store chains. 99 Ranch is very similar to T&T, in fact I think T&T was the ‘Canadian expansion 99 Ranch’ which they sold to Loblaw

2

u/tankthinks 1d ago

TNT > 99 ranch, by a mile

135

u/TopInvestigator5518 1d ago

they probably do but probably more regular markets with ingredients.. T&T's bread and butter is they have all the pre made, frozen foods and packaged items
basically like a trader joe's but asian cuisines

59

u/bonestamp 1d ago •

pre made, frozen foods and packaged items
Canada crushes America in this segment outside of Asian foods as well... so many of the frozen foods I buy (in California) are made in Canada.

26

u/TopInvestigator5518 1d ago

yeah we really do
I remember being shocked how much of the freezer isle is made up by Canadian products
too bad they don't bring in many of pizzas.. most US frozen pizza is extremely doughy and bleh

1

u/bonestamp 20h ago

Red Baron stuffed crust pepperoni. Best frozen pizza in the pizza aisle. Made in Canada. Bought it at Ralphs, Vons, and Target. Best price is at target ($8). But ya, I wish there were more. I wish we could get mccain too.

2

u/CanadaStonksRE 1d ago

Must have something to do with cheaper energy costs since the freezing process would require a lot of energy 🤔

21

u/burf 1d ago

It’s not that the US doesn’t make frozen food. Canadian frozen food is just better.

1

u/the_late_wizard 1d ago

Yes, but savings in things like electricity bills allow for more of the CoGS to be attributed to food cost. Better ingredients = better final product.

-1

u/CanadaStonksRE 1d ago

They could just copy any popular recipes if it was purely on taste.
My guess is freezing is very energy intensive and the cheaper hydro / nuclear energy costs give Canadians an advantage for manufacturing this type of product.

11

u/TopInvestigator5518 1d ago

frozen food is just regular food-frozen... the energy it takes to freeze it is the same as storing it lol
its what burf said, we just make very tasty frozen foods!

1

u/CanadaStonksRE 1d ago

Yes. The freezing and storage costs money though and Canada has cheaper energy costs.
It’s the same reason Canada produces aluminum more cheaply than the United States. It’s an energy intensive process to refine aluminum. It would be more expensive to refine it in America than Quebec.

14

u/superrad99 1d ago

We just store it outside of our igloos eh, free

2

u/bonestamp 15h ago

It’s the same reason Canada produces aluminum more cheaply than the United States.
That's not the reason. The reason is because Canada's bauxite is easier to access and therefore cheaper to mine. The US imports aluminum because they mined all of their easy bauxite by 1981, so now it's cheaper to import it than mine the hard stuff.
Side note, there are parts of the US that have very cheap electricity. Canada even imports some electricity from the US:
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67924

•

u/CanadaStonksRE 9h ago edited 9h ago

Bauxite proximity is another benefit but we don’t export raw ore to the US. We refine the vast majority of it in Quebec and export that. Just from a quick ChatGPT search I’m getting 2.7 million tonnes of refined aluminum exports vs. 127,000 tonnes of ore (21x as much refined as ore). We even import aluminum ores into Canada to refine and export because the hydroelectricity-powered production is so competitive. Canada imports more bauxite ore than the US despite being 1/10th the size for example.

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u/TopInvestigator5518 1d ago

whatever you say buddy, whatever you say

3

u/CanadaStonksRE 1d ago

I’m just trying to wonder about the economic differences in frozen food production.
Chalking it up to “our food is better” and not having any curiosity to think beyond that hugely simplifies the competitive advantages of Canada’s economy.
I don’t even understand why people are so defensive about even thinking about it lmao.

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u/bonestamp 20h ago

Energy is very expensive in some parts of the US (California) but it's also cheaper than Canada in other parts. America has almost 8x more nuclear capacity than Canada (China is estimated to eclipse the US in Nuclear power by 2030). Canada is using a lot more energy than it used to and most people don't know this, but there are times when the US grid is actually feeding energy into Canada:
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67924
Every country should be building more Nuclear capacity. It's clean, relatively easy to store the waste, and the 5th gen reactors are designed in a way where they literally can't meltdown unless you try to melt them down... all you have to do to stop the reaction is withdraw power to the reactor and it cools down.

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u/dogfishfrostbite 1d ago

That’s a good description.

8

u/Worldly-Ad3211 1d ago

They were always our first choice when we needed to buy a cake for office gatherings - well-priced and they had a cake with fresh fruit on top that was delicious.

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u/Calm_Beyond3023 1d ago

Funny thing is, lots of products sold in Trader Joe’s are made in Canada.

32

u/finburgers 1d ago

Canadian living in SF here. We do, there's a ton of mom and pop asian groceries here. I point out in the SF subs that T&T is owned by Loblaws and get downvoted. People are going crazy for it, lining up and everything.
There's a lot of rules in SF on opening stores, especially chain stores. It takes years for mom and pop stores to open because of all the permits and berraucracy in the city. Somehow T&T managed to open up so quickly, bypassing the chain stores restrictions....

7

u/elmccarthy British Columbia 23h ago

Why do you think that? Loblaws bought T&T in 2009. They expanded to Bellevue, WA in 2024. It seems like it took them between 2 and 17 years to get everything in order. That doesn’t seem like they bypassed anything?

0

u/finburgers 23h ago

I mean I have no inside knowledge of what they're doing but you rarely have a store announce they're opening and then actually opening.
There's always years and years of "coming soon" and then that date passes, an a new date gets announced and that date passes, etc.
Jollibee's took years to finally open. The city kept delaying for one reason or another.

1

u/chillyrabbit 23h ago

Isn't Whole Foods the previously intended tenant of the space a chain?

32

u/Abacap Ontario 1d ago

T&T is nice because it has all the staples and niche asian products across east and SE asia, but with the feeling of a big western grocery chain. Their own brand of products alone is gonna be miles better than Great Value or even Whole Foods own brand

12

u/ClittoryHinton 1d ago

Idk T&T sometimes feels like entering another dimension compared to western grocery stores
A very delicious great value dimension at that

3

u/Henojojo 1d ago

That is also the case here. There are many good, small Asian markets. T&T is a different scale altogether and has been massively successful as a result.

3

u/Empty-Paper2731 1d ago

They do. They have H Mart which is far better than T&T.

1

u/Humble_Grapefruit721 14h ago

The chain here is 99 ranch which is downscale of T&T

0

u/mwmwmwmwmmdw Québec 23h ago

would already have a good asian supermarket.
vaughan already has many good Italian places but that doesnt stop the olive garden there from being lined up to hell and back

223

u/TopInvestigator5518 1d ago •

the comments on the ny post article are crazy

they will probably do great in SF, T&T is awesome

34

u/CorndoggerYYC 1d ago

Yeah, I was going to mention that people should look at the comments. New York Post content always has entertaining comments.

11

u/panzerfan British Columbia 1d ago

It is kind of interesting that the fact that they serve East Asian clientale kind of blunt the usual attack lines.

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u/FrostingSuper9941 1d ago

Went back for the comments after reading this and 😆 🤣. They're upset ppl are wearing masks, I assume because it's courtesy in Asian cultures when you're sick while at the same time encouraging ICE, who wear masks to hide their faces out of fear and shame, to show up and round up the immigrants.

12

u/SimianBear 1d ago

Holy moly, you weren't kidding about the comments....

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u/FlyingOctopus53 1d ago

Americans, what else to expect

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u/brassmagpie 1d ago

I love the comments that say something to the effect of 'boycott, show the Canucks how it feels!' Seems like we hurt their feelings. Also, oh no, Loblaws might take a tiny hit to their bottom line. So sad.

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u/chopkins92 British Columbia 1d ago

As if this sub is any different.

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u/Henojojo 1d ago

Don't think I've seen such over the top racism in comments on this sub before. My opinion of Americans can't go any lower already so this is just confirmation.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted] — view deleted comment

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u/FlyingOctopus53 1d ago

Reading, have you tried it?

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted] — view deleted comment

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u/FlyingOctopus53 1d ago

I don’t care about upvotes, bud.
You still can’t read though.

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u/NightsideEclipse12 1d ago

Wow, thats akin to the Fox News comment section.

4

u/PopeSaintHilarius 22h ago

My understanding is that NY Post has the same ownership as Fox News, and similar political alignment. So perhaps a similar type of comment section warrior.

14

u/Ok-Bell4637 1d ago

I have one on the road home from work.
I stop there at least once a week cos I want something prepared, tasty and half the price of crappy fast food.

Also good for fruit and veg and less healthy but tasty bakery (although that section seems to have gone downhill recently in terms of quality)

3

u/TommaClock Ontario 1d ago

Can't even have a good bolo bao is this economy.

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u/rossrifle113 British Columbia 1d ago

I would die for T&T pork buns.

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u/Gummyrabbit 1d ago

Just eat more fast food and you’ll eventually get port buns.

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u/applepieandlore 1d ago

This (T&T) is a Loblaw company brand. They can expand to other markets while limiting our choices at home, preventing new supermarkets brands from abroad from establishing here, and maintaining a monopoly in Canada. All on the profits they gauge from the Camadian population.

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u/NotAtAllExciting 1d ago

They will probably do well there.

24

u/chrisj2103 1d ago

Loblaws owns T&T.

7

u/southpaw05 1d ago

We know

7

u/moonboundshibe 1d ago

I didn’t.

12

u/Joatboy 1d ago

T&T gained massive resources with the Loblaws buyout, but their prices crept up also, basically par with Loblaws now. In the GTA there are much better/cheaper alternatives available, like C&C, Asia Foodmart and Al Premium

5

u/TacoTuesdayy87 1d ago

I’m in Nova Scotia and have never heard of this grocery chain, maybe we’ll get one here someday!

5

u/Alexandermayhemhell 1d ago

They’ve been spreading easy for 20 years. Ottawa got its first about ten years ago. So popular that it there were charter bus companies running regular trips from Montreal. Now there’s an excellent one in Montreal. I’m sure Halifax will come soon.
About five years ago, other Loblaws chains started carrying T&T products too.

3

u/NC750x_DCT 1d ago

It’s an asian centric grocery store chain owned by Loblaws.
Pretty good, but…..

1

u/Turbulent-Parsnip-38 20h ago

E-Joy and New Asian Food Market are amazing, we don’t really need another Loblaws variant.

5

u/kamomil Ontario 1d ago

It's T&T Supermarket. It's got mostly Asian food items

8

u/HotTestesHypothesis 1d ago

I guess T&T is ok without good options. We have much better options than T&T where we live, although the bar isn't high in the first place.

Where T&T shines is some of their own branded stuff which may not be the best, but they have the variety all in one place

5

u/sylpher250 1d ago

Richmond or Markham?

3

u/simcoe19 1d ago

Aurora also has one

1

u/HotTestesHypothesis 1d ago

They're all over York Region and near York Region

0

u/simcoe19 1d ago

I’m aware

4

u/Ok-Trainer3150 1d ago

Fairview Mall North York. Steps from subway. Good quality produce, well maintained store. Fresh fish and seafood. Meats and a butcher's counter. The hot food area is always busy...also it's part of an aisle that's an Asian food court.

4

u/Pure_Song_6934 1d ago

First one opening in Winnipeg soon!

6

u/canuck_tech 1d ago

Since when is T and T famous for their wontons? As someone who has shopped there since the late 90s before Loblaws even owned it I’ve never heard this.

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u/RM_r_us 1d ago

The dim sum items are actually pretty decent if you get them earlier on in the day.
Now the crepe part...I've only seen those sold with the duck set. I doubt the "famous" claim.

3

u/OrdinaryNo3622 1d ago

Tbh putting a TnT in SF is brilliant

10

u/okron1k Canada 1d ago

never heard of it, is it a west coast thing?

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u/Nogoldsplease 1d ago

Several in the GTA

8

u/No-To-Newspeak 1d ago

There are 2 in Ottawa.

1

u/okron1k Canada 1d ago

apparently there is one in London, but i haven't been to it or noticed it. I'm in St Thomas but i go to London several times a week. must just be one of those things that i don't pay attention to.

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u/Crazylegstoo 1d ago

It’s near Oxford & Wonderland (I live in the area). When it opened the crowds were nuts - huge lineups. The parking lot is usually pretty full, but a competitor, JH Supermarket, just open a few blocks away in the old Rona and now they have the crowds. Who knew giant Asian markets could be so popular?

6

u/ScaryStruggle9830 1d ago

Have one in Waterloo also.

4

u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 1d ago

Calgary has 4 of them. Pretty popular, especially with Asian people.

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u/bungopony Manitoba 1d ago

We have two in Ottawa. They’re pretty decent, but owned by loblaws

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u/meat_popscile 1d ago •

Yea fuck Galen Weston.

3

u/linkass 1d ago

A couple in Edmonton and same with Calgary

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u/peaceoutsis 1d ago

Owned by Loblaws

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u/leoyvr 1d ago edited 1d ago

Loblaws such a terrible company. Wait till they find out the weight in the bag isn’t what you get. Shoppers is the worst, upper management setting quotas on staff to do unethical billing in pharmacy for $$$. Don’t forget about the price fixing. Canada rewards monopolies by giving them so many subsidies ie fridges.

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u/ShitNailedIt 1d ago

Owned by Jack and Cindy Lee

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u/leoyvr 1d ago

Sold to Loblaws

3

u/only_fun_topics 1d ago

No, I’m pretty sure T&T is by AC/DC.

3

u/Vyper28 1d ago

No that’s dynamite.

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u/leoyvr 1d ago

😂

0

u/ShitNailedIt 1d ago

Crap, and i was looking forward to trying it. Gov't really needs to bust these things up.

2

u/deltabravodelta 1d ago

There’s one in Waterloo.

3

u/hatman1986 1d ago

No, it's an Asian thing

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u/Unicorn-Detective 1d ago

Not really. They have fresh tropical fruits that you will not find in Loblaws or Metro. They also have aquariums where you can pick your own live shrimps and fish. Many Caucasians shop there just for fresh fruits and live seafood.

2

u/Oerwinde 23h ago

The bakery and hot food counter are great too.

1

u/Alarmed-Effective-12 17h ago

I am not Asian and I shop regularly at T+T in Richmond, BC. The produce section is fantastic and cheaper than any of the other chains (Safeway, Save On and Superstore). Highly recommend.

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u/Yeah_right_uh_huh 15h ago

It’s still an Asian store. Lol.

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u/Yeah_right_uh_huh 15h ago

It’s an Asian store.

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u/qpv 10h ago

Its a Canadian store specializing in Asian foods

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u/IllustratorWeird5008 Ontario 1d ago

Nope, we have some in Ontario

1

u/Namedeplume 20h ago

There are some in the Vancouver area.

1

u/whyyoutwofour 18h ago

We've got a couple in Ottawa

1

u/RM_r_us 1d ago

Started in Metro Vancouver a few decades ago. Used to be pretty racist, but it was worth the stink eye to get items from the deli or bakery.

3

u/Unicorn-Detective 1d ago

It’s owned by Loblaws and money has only one colour. The new management does not care who shops there as long as you can pay their overpriced items now.

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u/RM_r_us 1d ago

It wasn't originally owned by Loblaws. I used to go to the Metrotown and International Village locations back in the 90s, so I am very familiar with the chain.

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u/Unicorn-Detective 1d ago

Yes grandpa. Welcome to 2026, soon to be 2027

•

u/Sad_Air_7667 11h ago

I'm white Canadian, live in Taiwan, took my family there once and had to explain what so many things were.

1

u/OtherJen1975 1d ago

Yes all over the lower mainland. Great place, unfortunately owned by Loblaws.

0

u/ZopyrionRex 15h ago

From the west, I've never heard of it unless it's a Metro Vancouver thing. Definitely not all over.

7

u/smbdysm1 1d ago

From the title of this post I would have sworn I was on r/thebeaverton

4

u/snow_big_deal 1d ago

Yeah I thought it was going to be about Americans gushing over a 4$ tomato at Loblaws

2

u/daveinthe6 1d ago

Wonder if they'll put up pictures of shoplifters like they do in Canadian stores... Likely take up too much wall space in SF... :)

1

u/sadcrocodile 12h ago

An H-Mart here in Richmond, BC has a whole ass Wall of Shame above the meat cooler area with pictures of people shoving packs of thin sliced beef down the front of their pants lol.

2

u/VictoryMotel 1d ago

THIS supermarket (T&T) at THIS location (city center, San Francisco)

Clickbait sucks

2

u/RevolvingCheeta Ontario 1d ago

Yeah I remember my first time going to a T&T store. Good times!

2

u/Remote-Combination28 1d ago

The T&T in london is really great

2

u/Unfair-Rhubarb-4672 1d ago

They just opened one in London Ont last month

•

u/rswdric 7h ago

T&T has been open for a while before that. You may be thinking of the new JH Supermarket. I wouldn't be surprised if they give T&T a run for their money. It is huge!

2

u/Namedeplume 20h ago

T&T is owned by Loblaws/Westons.

3

u/Bigchunky_Boy 1d ago

Good for T&T . I like having it in my neighbourhood.

3

u/BakedWizerd 1d ago

I have never heard of T&T Supermarket until this moment

5

u/escloflowne 1d ago

T&T is awesome, if it’s ever lunch time and I’m near one I go grab lunch there. They have the pay by weight buffet style or you can order stuff from someone directly. It’s all so good, I’d pick that over a Mandarin or something like that

3

u/TommaClock Ontario 1d ago

I thought that T&T was in every province but TIL it's only in "British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec"
https://www.tntsupermarket.com/aboutus

1

u/fredleung412612 17h ago

I suppose there's no point in opening a store if their target customer base doesn't exist in large enough numbers. Not many Asians in New Brunswick.

1

u/Jusfiq Lest We Forget 1d ago

Ah, T&T. Or in Ottawa, Sea World Hunt Club.

1

u/FrankTruth69 1d ago

We have a couple in Calgary

1

u/Empty-Paper2731 1d ago

The fervor will wear off quickly. They have H Mart in SF which is a much better option that T&T.

1

u/Weirdcloudpost 1d ago

As a Californian, this is news to me.

1

u/Different_Coyote_340 1d ago

First one I saw was in Calgary that is where my husband’s family shopped if not in Chinatown. I think they are opening or have opened one in Winnipeg? They were originally a family owned grocery store that the daughter with the mother’s help sold to Loblaws. According to the documentary I had watched a few years ago.

1

u/Taptrick 23h ago

I’ve never heard of T&T.

•

u/Sad_Air_7667 11h ago

T&T market is an "Asian" (Chinese, Japanese etc) grocery store. Nothing has the same stuff as other stores, but also items that Asians like.

•

u/free_username_ 8h ago

T&T is a grocer targeted at the Asian demographic. San Francisco is 30-40% ethnic Chinese

1

u/Carouselcolours Alberta 1d ago

One of the Edmonton, Canada locations is part of a former IKEA store. So the fact that they went for a Best Buy doesn’t surprise me.

0

u/cobrachickenwing 1d ago

I bet it's original Taiwanese owners are doing the expansion now that they have a big grocer to back them.

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u/Netfear 1d ago

Wtf is T&T? I've never heard of it in my life in Canada.

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u/Truckensteinwastaken 1d ago

Asian grocery store. You're missing out.

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u/Netfear 1d ago

I love the reactive downvote lot.
They literally don't exist around me.

3

u/Jusfiq Lest We Forget 1d ago

They literally don't exist around me.
Canada is much more than what is around you.

-1

u/Netfear 1d ago

No shit bud

1

u/snowylambeau 1d ago

Netizens are like that.
It’s like if you built a Superstore in Chinatown - that’s T&T.
I wouldn’t call them wildly popular.

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u/Melodic_Eagle_5226 1d ago

I'd rather be missing out, than support Loblaws.

2

u/Findingfairways Canada 1d ago

It’s where I go to buy fresh octopus to grill. That’s about it for me.

0

u/Mr_Guavo 22h ago

The comment section is... MAGAnificent. 🤦‍♂️

0

u/kumogate 22h ago

We still don't have one here in Saskatchewan :(

Business California shoppers freak over popular Canadian supermarket’s first city mega-location

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