The founder of T&T Supermarket has published an autobiography in Chinese that reveals how the largest Asian grocery chain in Canada was founded in Richmond and how it helped shape the city’s landscape.
Cindy Lee, founder and former CEO of T&T Supermarket, released a book last month titled, “Be Brave and You Can Turn Your Life Around” (English translation). In the book, Lee shares her experience of going from being a new Taiwanese immigrant to a successful Canadian businesswoman.
The book also reveals many insider details about the company’s name, its first location in Richmond’s President Plaza, and how T&T became the owner of the Yaohan Centre.
The birth of President Plaza
Many Richmond residents may be familiar with the President Plaza at the corner of No. 3 and Cambie roads – an old Chinese mall beside the Radisson Hotel that’s known for its food court with authentic Asian food.
However, many may not know how the building was built and named.
In her book, Lee explains that in 1993 she owned an Asian-food wholesale business near Chinatown and had ambitions to open the first Asian food supermarket in Canada.
When she was looking for investments, she heard about a government immigration policy in which foreign investors could acquire immigration status by providing low-interest loans to local businesses.
Lee then partnered with Uni-President Enterprises Corporation, an international food conglomerate based in Taiwan, and formed a joint venture to develop supermarkets and shopping malls.
They chose the piece of land at No. 3 and Cambie roads — and President Plaza was born.
“We later learned that the government only allows investor immigrant funds to be used for developments focused on hotels, so President Plaza had to be converted into a four-star hotel, with shops and the supermarket as affiliates,” wrote Lee in the book.
But while the plan was approved construction was delayed, so Lee decided to open her new Asian supermarket in an existing shopping centre – Metrotown in Burnaby – and named it after the first letters of Lee’s two daughters.
So, although T&T intended to debut in Richmond, the first store actually opened in Burnaby; the President Plaza location opened one month later.
Expansion to Yaohan
For a long time, there were two T&Ts just a block apart in Richmond, one in President Plaza and another in Yaohan Centre. This was not the plan, but there’s a story behind that as well.
In 1993, Osaka, a Japanese-style grocery supermarket, was opened in Yaohan Centre on No. 3 Road, around the same time T&T opened in President Plaza.
However, in 1998, Lee heard the company that owned Yaohan had suffered a big real estate loss in Shanghai and was forced to sell their overseas supermarket.
“Although business in the President Plaza store was good, the area was relatively small. If Yaohan was suddenly bought by a strong competitor…it would be hard for us to compete and would put us in a bad situation,” Lee recalled in her book.
“We concluded that we’d rather have two locations right next to each other than give the opportunity next door to a potential competitor…the only way to survive was to purchase Yaohan.”
So, Lee bought Yaohan along with Osaka, which is now called the Osaka T&T Supermarket.
“It was a key decision in the early stage of T&T and was also a milestone for T&T to achieve success,” wrote Lee.
The co-existing stores lasted until 2015 when the President Plaza location was closed. T&T opened another location at Hollybridge Way, near the Richmond Oval, and in 2018, the company opened its then largest location at Lansdowne Centre.
There are now 14 T&T supermarkets in B.C. While it is still headquartered in Richmond, it was bought out by Loblaws Companies in 2009.
