The popular Asian grocery store T&T Supermarket is reopening downtown this week.
The Loblaw-owned chain shuttered its only downtown Toronto location at Cherry Street to make way for the Port Lands redevelopment back in January 2020.
In May, CEO Tina Lee announced T&T Supermarket would reopen at 297 College in a space formerly occupied by Independent City Market (another Loblaw brand).
The official grand reopening is now set for August 20 at 9 am, the company said on Instagram.
The new store is located on the edge of both Kensington Market and Chinatown. At 27,000 square feet, it’s smaller than the usual 40,000 square feet shoppers were used to on Cherry or the other seven T&T locations in the GTA spread across Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan and Mississauga.
Whereas the old location was in a largely industrial area, the move to College Street means T&T will now be more accessible to pedestrians and public transit riders.
“Unlike our other locations, we expect more frequent visits and walk-ins because we are within walking distance or just a streetcar ride away from U of T and Ryerson,” Lee said in a statement.
Chinatown BIA chair Tonny Louie believes fresh competition will be good for the area, which has been diversifying and will grow further as nearby condo developments are completed.
“There are three other supermarkets and they are always very busy. Competition is good because it makes sure everybody is up to speed on product selections and services,” he said in an interview. “In Chinatown, most of the staff speak Mandarin and being an old timer, I still speak Cantonese and I sometimes have a hard time finding what I want.”
He added that the new downtown T&T store is much smaller than the brand’s sprawling suburban outposts and will diversify the product offerings in the Chinatown area.
“In some ways, a new store will encourage the smaller stores to tighten up their operations,” Louie said.
