Asian supermarket T&T to open at Polo Park

Live seafood, more than 150 varieties of baked bread and rows of Asian produce are being promised for CF Polo Park — in two years time.

T&T Supermarket, the largest Asian grocery chain in Canada, announced Thursday it will move into the Winnipeg mall.

It’s eyeing a spring 2028 opening date.

“I am thrilled,” said Peter Havens, CF Polo Park’s general manager. “I’ve always thought, ‘It’s great to have a grocery store attached to a shopping centre.’”

By current plans, customers will enter T&T Supermarket from outside the mall. The chain has inked a deal for 48,000 sq. ft. in the southwest corner, near EQ3.

Carts should be available at ground level; customers will then go downstairs to grocery shop. The venue has been empty since Sears closed in 2017, Havens said.

“We’ve held that one space — where the main level entrance is — in anticipation of a deal, something similar to this,” he said.

A full makeover is needed, Havens added. T&T Supermarket plans to build a self-serve hot food bar — with options such as Peking duck and sushi — and rows for fresh Asian produce, seafood and meat.

It’ll sell at least 50 styles of desserts and pastries, it said in a news release. A T&T Supermarket spokesperson wasn’t available Thursday.

The company began in Burnaby and Richmond, B.C., in 1993. Since then, it’s expanded to three provinces — Alberta, Ontario and Quebec — and counts 40 North American locations.

Three of those are in the United States.

It has its own private label brand and is a subsidiary of Loblaw; T&T was acquired in 2009. It’s now a sister company to the Real Canadian Superstore and No Frills.

“It’s interesting to see how larger malls are reinventing themselves with the loss of key anchors like the Bay and Sears,” said John Graham, the Retail Council of Canada’s director of government relations for the Prairies.

Grocers, entertainment and medical services are filling gaps in shopping centres, Graham noted. Last month, St. Vital Centre owner Leyad said the former Hudson’s Bay space would hold entertainment attractions.

T&T Supermarket is a “really unique store, and I think one that Winnipeggers are going to have a lot of fun shopping in,” Graham said.

“(It’s) fun to wander through.”

Its arrival follows grocery chains’ expansion of ethnic food options. CF Polo Park has seen demand for a “professional outlet” such as T&T Supermarket, Havens said.

Manitobans can now shop at T&T Supermarket through its app and website. Dried goods and Asian beauty products are among the items available for mail-to-home service, the company said.

It’s drumming up awareness through online sales and by giving two years of lead time, said Divya Ramachandran, a University of Manitoba marketing professor.

“Once you start purchasing from a certain app or a certain store, you start getting used to the interface, you start getting used to the products, the prices,” she said. “And you keep going back to that.”

T&T Supermarket can adjust its Winnipeg store, before opening, based on information it collects through online customers’ data, Ramachandran said.

“Having a big brand like T&T choosing to come here to Winnipeg, I think, is a very positive sign,” she added. “Especially when we hear about the fact that old stores are closing around the city.”

Giant Tiger has said it’ll shutter its Donald Street shop in November. It closed a couple Winnipeg stores in the past two years.

Boards cover former 7-Eleven windows across the city; the chain has ended at least eight locations since August of 2024.

T&T Supermarket’s arrival will boost customer traffic at the already busy mall, Ramachandran said.

The Winnipeg hub is the latest result of T&T’s partnership with Cadillac Fairview. T&T Supermarket opened a location in Toronto’s CF Fairview Mall three years ago. It’s also planned a store for CF Sherway Gardens in the Etobicoke district of Toronto.

In Polo Park, shoppers expressed excitement for the incoming store Thursday. Gabriel Colome, who’s from the Philippines, said it reminds him of home — malls sometimes have supermarkets below.

“It’s definitely flexible, because once you finish grocery shopping, you can just go to the mall,” Colome said.

Uniqlo, Thriftys and Abercrombie & Fitch opened in CF Polo Park earlier this year.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com