Canada’s largest Asian grocery retailer set to enter Winnipeg market in 2028, coming to one of the city’s busiest retail destinations
CANADA’S largest Asian grocery retailer is coming to Manitoba.
T&T Supermarket plans to open its first store in the province at CF Polo Park in Winnipeg in 2028, bringing a 48,000-square-foot supermarket to the lower level of the shopping centre at 1485 Portage Ave.
The new location will give T&T a foothold in the Winnipeg grocery market, while extending the company’s expansion across Canada and the U.S. “We’ve finally figured it out,” says T&T Supermarkets CEO Tina Lee, announcing the Winnipeg store in August. “Winnipeg is more than 1,000 km away from the nearest T&T, but we’ve found a way to bring T&T’s immersive Asian food experience to the community.”
A new anchor for Polo Park
The Winnipeg store is expected to feature many of the departments that have helped build T&T’s following elsewhere in Canada, including a self-serve hot food bar, barbecue and sushi counters, fresh produce, live seafood, meat and an in-store bakery. The company says its bakery offers more than 150 varieties of bread and more than 50 desserts and pastries. T&T has also built a private-label business with more than 300 products and expanded beyond food with Asian beauty sections carrying skincare, makeup, haircare and wellness products from Korea, Japan and China.
Manitobans can already buy some T&T products online, including dried foods, snacks and Asian beauty products, but the Polo Park location will mark the retailer’s first bricks-and-mortar presence in the province.
From two B.C. stores to a national brand
The Winnipeg opening will come 35 years after T&T got its start in British Columbia.
Cindy Lee and her husband, Jack Lee, opened the company’s first stores in Burnaby and Richmond in 1993. Lee, an immigrant from Taiwan and a working mother of three, saw an opportunity to bring fresh Asian foods and grocery products together under one roof at a time when many of those products were harder to find in mainstream Canadian supermarkets.
The T&T name has family roots. It refers to daughters Tina and Tiffany, while also reflecting the initials of two of the business’s early investors. The concept expanded beyond B.C. in 1999 with a location at Pacific Place Mall in Calgary. T&T entered Ontario three years later, opening at Promenade Mall in Thornhill.
Loblaw deal fuels growth
A major shift came in 2009 when Loblaw Companies Limited acquired T&T.
Cindy Lee remained CEO after the transaction before retiring in 2014. Her daughter, Tina Lee, then took over as chief executive, making T&T a second-generation family-led business operating within one of Canada’s largest retailers.
Under Tina Lee, the chain has continued to expand its store network and broaden the shopping experience. Its 74,000-square-foot Richmond, B.C. flagship, which opened in 2018, added features including a live seafood bar and Asian street food station. T&T launched its e-commerce platform and app in 2020. Today, the company has 37 stores in Canada, three stores in the U.S., and will open two more locations in Canada this year.
Winnipeg joins a growing network
The retailer now has dozens of locations across North America and has begun pushing beyond its Canadian base into the U.S.
Its expansion has come as Asian food has become an increasingly important part of the mainstream Canadian grocery market, giving T&T an opportunity to serve both shoppers seeking familiar ingredients and a broader customer base looking for prepared foods, specialty products and brands that may not be widely available at traditional supermarkets.
Winnipeg is the next phase of that growth strategy.
For CF Polo Park, the opening will add a major grocery tenant to a regional shopping destination traditionally associated more closely with fashion, restaurants and general retail. For T&T, it represents entry into a Manitoba market the company has yet to serve with a physical store. “We are thrilled to build on our successful and growing partnership with T&T Supermarket to bring their unique retail experience to Winnipeg at CF Polo Park,” says Sal Iacono, president & CEO, Cadillac Fairview with the announcement. “This opening represents a significant milestone in our commitment to evolving our properties into vibrant, multifaceted destinations and we look forward to the energy and excitement this new store will undoubtedly bring to our guests in Manitoba.”
And when the doors open in 2028, T&T will be entering a city where the appetite for large-format Asian grocery retail has already been tested.
