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Downtown T&T Supermarket

I can't really see the rationale behind putting T&T, or any Chinese grocery store or big box on the Portlands. What kind of customers are they trying to attract by having a location there?

If it does become successful, however, I fear it will mark the death of Chinatown East at Gerrard and Broadview. The closest sizable Chinese community within the area is already going through tough times. Bringing in this Chinese "Walmart" to the area might benefit local residents, but local businesses would really suffer.

On the other hand, I would like to see T&T open up a location at Cityplace or Spadina/Dundas, like their location in Vancouver's Chinatown. Perhaps it can convert one of the big industrial loft buildings into a store. T&T would help to attract more people (including Chinese suburbanites who work or go to school in downtown Toronto) to the Chinatown area.
 
a few more details...

www.thestar.com/Business/article/169949

The colourful Sprackman, vilified by Toronto Island residents for running a waterfront nightclub, has over the years proposed far grander uses for the site, including a casino, some big box stores and a hotel.

But the only approved used for the vacant Knob Hill store is food distribution.
 
I would like to see T&T open up a location at Cityplace or Spadina/Dundas
Click to expand...

me too.

the problem, according to the article, is parking. from my limited experience, other t&t's are parking nightmares.

a big problem, i imagine, would be cleanliness. t&t's are clean in comparison to other chinese grocery stores and spadina chinatown is pretty dirty. one of my friends who installs security cameras says he has seen rats (they chew through the wires) the size of small cats in nooks and crannies of spadina chinatown!

another problem may be distribution. delivery trucks already clog spadina at all times of the day.
 
Tasty Tasty

I actually know a lot of non-chinese who are now frequent T&T customers (usually the hot dim sum counter) at the newer Mississauga location. The challenge though is to keep them clean, or they will go the way of Big Land.
 
roch:

The hot dim sum counter absolutely rules. Their rest of their cooked foods section is somewhat underwhelming, however. T&T (and Ikea) is an urbanist's guilty pleasure...

I don't think there is much to worry about regarding cleanliness - I think the management style of T&T couldn't be more different from the usual Chinese supermarkets. They even have outsorced inventory controls - I have never seen that anywhere with Chinese chains.

AoD
 
Why is it that Chinese supermarkets have problems with cleanliness?
 
the problem, according to the article, is parking. from my limited experience, other t&t's are parking nightmares.
Click to expand...
The parking situation at the Warden & Steeles location gives rise to its name of Suicide Plaza.
 
Why is it that Chinese supermarkets have problems with cleanliness?
Click to expand...

probably the same reason why their prices are dirt cheap.

personally, i wouldn't buy meat from a non-t&t chinese grocery store. however, many people have and have lived to tell about it.
 
The big problem with the Promenade location if you don't want to deal with parking, and don't mind the double transit fare, is the absolutely typical way that YRT has treated the placement of transit.

The Promenade is a YRT hub; a whole bunch of routes terminate or pass through there. Yet rather than follow the lead of the Rideau Centre in Ottawa, where the bus terminal is attached to the mall itself -- making the wait easier and the mall more transit-accessible -- the Promenade bus terminal is in the middle of a parking lot.

So taking the bus to anything in the Promenade, including the T&T, is an absolute pain. As you can tell, this is a real pet peeve of mine...
 
personally, i wouldn't buy meat from a non-t&t chinese grocery store. however, many people have and have lived to tell about it.
Click to expand...

Some No Frills supermarket locations on the Scarborough/Markham boundary have meat shops, fish markets and bakeries run by Chinese suppliers, so technically the meat bought there is from a Chinese grocery store.

Actually, many of the lower end mainstream supermarkets are very popular with the Chinese, even more than some of our own markets. Go to a No Frills, Food Basics or a Price Chopper in north Scarborough and you will see it packed with Chinese people, at all times of the day. However, for specialty Chinese foods, like sauces, offals, preserved meats and vegetables, etc. you would have to go to a Chinese supermarket.
 
"Go to a No Frills, Food Basics or a Price Chopper in north Scarborough and you will see it packed with Chinese people, at all times of the day."

Given that most people who live in the area are Chinese, this is to be expected.
 
T&T and other chinese supermarkets arn't exactly the best prices for things like canned goods or other north american staples. Going shopping for a week, you probably would go to both, which we did in the past.
 
Link to article

Asian supermarket comes to port lands

JOANNA LAVOIE
www.insideToronto.com

01/11/07 13:43:00
The former Knob Hill Farms at 222 Cherry St. is getting a new lease on life as a TandT Supermarket.

The Asian food market, which currently has 15 locations across Canada, is set to open a new store in the port lands by the fall.

"We are excited that the vast port lands [sic] will be opened to a range of development opportunities including new urban communities and a rich infrastructure of recreation, cultural and tourist amenities," said Cindy Lee, TandT's CEO, in a release.

Jerry Sprackman, owner of the at-times controversial Docks Entertainment Complex, is working with Canada's largest Asian supermarket chain on developing the project.

It's an opportunity he views as ideal for drawing positive attention to the port lands.

"I think Knob Hill did great business there. TandT will also bring thousands upon thousands of people to the port lands," said Sprackman, noting there are no other larger-sized supermarkets of this kind in the downtown area.

"I think this is very, very good for the area. The Docks has been sitting by itself for 11 years and this will help cross-promote."

The site, owned by the Toronto Economic Development Corporation (TEDCO), is currently home to an unused 41,000-square-foot building and a large parking lot with room for more than 200 vehicles.

Jeff Steiner, TEDCO president and CEO, said that the land - currently leased to Sprackman and in turn sub-leased to TandT - could not be used for big box retail, but must be used for a grocery store.

"TEDCO has repeatedly turned down requests for big box retail at that site," he said.

Steiner also said that TEDCO is satisfied that the existing building will be renovated and re-used.

"TandT will improve the building and the parking lot. The good thing about this is that no new building is going to be built," he said.

Steiner also said that because the site is located deeper in the port lands that it would likely be 10 to 15 years before any concrete waterfront revitalization plans get underway at that location.

Further, he added that once residential development does begin in the port lands that people would require a range of amenities including a grocery store.
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They do plan to renovate the old Knob Hall store. Anything is better than the dump flea market that was there before.
 
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