T&T Supermarket’s first San Francisco location drew crowds so large that some shoppers began lining up at 4 a.m. Thursday, hours before the doors opened on Geary Boulevard.
The Canadian Asian grocery chain, founded in Vancouver in 1993 by Taiwanese Canadian entrepreneurs Cindy and Jack Lee, launched its fourth U.S. Store in just two years inside the City Center complex. The roughly 50,000-square-foot space, which had sat empty since 2017, previously was earmarked for Whole Foods before Amazon abandoned those plans after years of permitting headaches, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Carissa Fei was among the early arrivals hunting for opening-day bargains. “I like going to grand openings, there’s a lot of great deals,” Fei told KTVU. “And T&T delivers a lot of fresh foods and all sorts of different things. Like, this one has a cafe even.”
The debut brought celebratory lion dancers and a frenzy of food-loving fans to a neighborhood that had lacked a major grocer for nearly eight years. Inside, shoppers found live seafood, exotic produce, steaming dim sum, beauty products and more spread across the former Best Buy footprint.
Another enthusiastic customer waiting in line told KTVU the store’s reputation preceded it. “I’m excited to have a T&T Canadian-style store come open here in San Francisco,” the shopper said. “They are famous for their wontons and their crepes, so it’s definitely a must-try.”
The produce section alone stocks some 200 varieties of vegetables and 17 kinds of mushrooms, alongside an extensive selection of fresh fish, seafood and meats. The cafe operation marks a newer format element for the chain’s American expansion.
T&T has become a fixture in Canadian cities with large Asian communities since its founding more than three decades ago. The Lee family’s aggressive push into the U.S. Market began recently, with the San Francisco opening representing another major milestone in that southward growth.
The Geary Boulevard location fills a retail void that had persisted since the previous tenant closed in 2017. City officials and developers had long sought a grocery anchor for the site before T&T committed to the space.
The chain’s rapid American expansion suggests more locations could follow in other West Coast markets with significant Asian American populations. T&T has not publicly announced its next U.S. Opening timeline.