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Los Angeles Times
29-04-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Almquist breaks ground on site of SoCal's first T&T Supermarket
Local development company Almquist broke ground on its latest project, The Canopy at Great Park in Irvine on April 24, where the first SoCal T&T Supermarket will open. 'The Great Park community has long awaited a retail and dining hub that not only serves their needs but also enhances their everyday lifestyle,' chief executive officer of Almquist, Dan Almquist said at the ground-breaking ceremony. Almquist is responsible for other Orange County retail destinations such as River Street Marketplace in San Juan Capistrano and Rodeo 39 Public Market in Stanton. The new project is designed to serve the expanding Great Park Neighborhoods. The Canopy at Great Park will be a 12-acre experiential retail and dining destination, roughly 90,000-square-feet in size with chef-driven restaurants and lifestyle brands anchored by the specialty grocer. T&T Supermarket is Canada's largest Asian grocery chain. Chief executive Tina Lee spoke at the ceremony that included a live music performance and refreshments. 'We are a really unique Asian food destination,' said Lee. 'We are not a cookie-cutter grocery store. Dan Almquist came up to Canada and saw what we did and in his view there is nothing like it in California. He wanted to be part of bringing us to Orange County.' T&T Supermarket has more than 33 stores in Canada and opened its first U.S. location in Bellevue, Wash. in 2024. The popular grocery store was started by Lee's mother, Cindy Lee, nearly 30 years ago, with the ambition of becoming the Asian answer to chain grocery stores like Safeway, Lee recounted to the crowd. The Orange County store is projected to be a 34,000-square-foot space. 'Our sizes in Canada range and this will be on the smaller scale, but we were able to bring a real creative element to the store,' said Lee. 'Today you are looking at a piece of dirt, but we are going from the ground up.' Besides stocking produce, dried goods and canned goods from all over Asia, T&T is also known for its prepared foods. The in-house bakery offers fresh dim sum and more than 100 varieties of Asian baked goods, including viral sensations like Napoleon Portuguese egg tarts. Shoppers can also look forward to freshly made jian bing (savory Chinese crepes) and Taiwanese-style rice rolls. T&T also has a line private label products, like Xiao Long Bao, or pork soup dumplings, Korean kalbi marinade and seaweed snacks. Like any good grocery store, whole cooked chicken is popular item but T&T puts their on spin on the poultry staple. 'We have really a great team of in-house chefs and we are always innovating,' said Lee. 'We have a new product called the Crispy Papa chicken, which is a whole butterflied deep-friend chicken and we recently came out with two other flavors.' The chicken will be available in the original Crispy Papa Chicken variety and the new Roasted Garlic Papa Chicken and Roasted Spicy Mala Papa Chicken flavors. T&T Supermarket is set to open at The Canopy in late 2026.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Popular Canadian Asian grocery chain to open in Irvine next year
Canada's largest Asian grocery chain is continuing its expansion into California with plans to open a new location in Irvine early next year. It will be among the first storefronts in the state for T&T Supermarket, which has more than 33 stores in Vancouver, Toronto and other Canadian cities. The supermarket is popular in Canada for fresh produce and a variety of hot food cooked on site, including Asian street food and staples such as Peking duck. The store in Irvine will also offer Asian wines and spirits and T&T private label products. Its bakery will sell viral Asian treats, including lava mochi puffs and Napoleon Portuguese egg tarts. Orange County's 34,000-square-foot T&T Supermarket will anchor a new restaurant and retail development in the Great Park community called the Canopy at Great Park, according to a statement from the company. The Canopy, which is being built by Southern California real estate developer Almquist, will feature 90,000 square feet of shopping, dining and public space. Read more: Jonson and Alice Chen: The new generation for 99 Ranch The location is slated to open in winter of 2026, the chain said. The first U.S. location opened in Bellevue, Wash., in December 2024, and the company also has plans to open stores in San Francisco and San Jose by the end of next year. "Ever since we announced our U.S. entry, we have been getting customer requests all across the United States," T&T Chief Executive Tina Lee said in a statement. "I know T&T may not be well-known in Irvine, but we are excited to surprise our shoppers with a unique shopping experience." Irvine's T&T is likely to face competition, as popular Asian markets including H Mart and Mitsuwa Marketplace are already established in the area. Shoppers can also frequent 99 Ranch and Zion Market, both of which have stores in Irvine and other locations in Southern California. Irvine's population of more than 300,000 is nearly 45% Asian. T&T Supermarket first opened in British Columbia in 1993 and is currently run by the founder's daughter, Lee, who took over in 2014. Canadian retailer Loblaw Companies acquired the chain in 2009, though it is operated as an independent subsidiary. Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
25-04-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Popular Canadian Asian grocery chain to open in Irvine next year
Canada's largest Asian grocery chain is continuing its expansion into California with plans to open a new location in Irvine early next year. It will be among the first storefronts in the state for T&T Supermarket, which has more than 33 stores in Vancouver, Toronto and other Canadian cities. The supermarket is popular in Canada for fresh produce and a variety of hot food cooked on site, including Asian street food and staples such as Peking Duck. The store in Irvine will also offer Asian wines and spirits and T&T private label products. Its bakery will sell viral Asian treats, including lava mochi puffs and Napoleon Portuguese egg tarts. Orange County's 34,000-square-foot T&T Supermarket will anchor a new restaurant and retail development in the Great Park community called the Canopy at Great Park, according to a statement from the company. The Canopy, which is being built by Southern California real estate developer Almquist, will feature 90,000 square feet of shopping, dining and public space. The location is slated to open in winter of 2026, the chain said. The first U.S. location opened in Bellevue, Wash., in December 2024, and the company also has plans to open stores in San Francisco and San Jose by the end of next year. 'Ever since we announced our U.S. entry, we have been getting customer requests all across the United States,' T&T Chief Executive Tina Lee said in a statement. 'I know T&T may not be well-known in Irvine, but we are excited to surprise our shoppers with a unique shopping experience.' Irvine's T&T is likely to face competition, as popular Asian markets including H Mart and Mitsuwa Marketplace are already established in the area. Southern California shoppers can also frequent 99 Ranch, which has a location in Westwood, and Zion Market, which has locations in Koreatown and San Diego. Irvine's population of more than 300,000 is nearly 45% Asian. T&T Supermarket first opened in British Columbia in 1993 and is currently run by the founder's daughter, Lee, who took over in 2014. Canadian retailer Loblaw Companies acquired the chain in 2009, though it is operated as an independent subsidiary.
