Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...The cult of T&T has come to California.
San Jose’s Westgate Center is the home of the state’s first T&T Supermarket, a store wildly popular throughout Canada for its hot-from-the-fryer whole chickens; dumplings ready to eat or take home (the store mascot is the cuddly Bao); fresh mango-topped tarts and cakes; high-end seafood and produce; hot meals from the serve-yourself buffet; and imported Asian snack and beauty products.
It’s the latest Asian-themed superstore to plant a flag in the diverse Bay Area, and hundreds of shoppers — both the curious and the converted — lined up early Thursday morning to be among the first inside after a parade of lion dancers. From now through Sunday night, the outdoor stage will feature pan-Asian acts including dance, taiko, K-pop and martial arts to keep the crowds entertained.
“This is a momentous milestone for T&T,” CEO Tina Lee said at a media preview before the throngs converged on the site. She said she’s wanted to expand her family’s British Columbia-based market chain to California for years, since back when she attended UCLA, and knew the Bay Area audience would be receptive.
Among the early shoppers was the mother-daughter duo of Xiaoxia Tang and Katherine Wang. They had shopped at T&T up north, so Wang was able to tick off the store’s strengths. “I like that they offer fresh food. And it’s very clean and organized,” said Wang, who was planning to head first for a milk tea while her mother perused the produce.
Some in line had heard about T&T but were new to the experience. “As a Taiwanese person, I have trouble getting specific ingredients, so I’m excited for this,” Pamela Lin of San Jose said as she neared the doors.
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Others were happy to have a store like this in the neighborhood. Zack Baumel, who lives nearby in Campbell, said he’s been driving 25 minutes to another Asian grocery.
San Jose resident Noel Victoria of San Jose had been eagerly anticipating the opening. “I was passing by every day during construction,” he said with a wide grin as he emerged with a cart that included live oysters, a box of ramen kits and Filipino snacks like SkyFlakes soda crackers.
Founded in 1993 in Vancouver by entrepreneurs Cindy and Jack Lee, the T&T chain operates 37 stores across Canada, plus three in the United States.
Before the chain opened its first two U.S. markets in Washington state, residents were known to drive across the Canadian border to fill up on favorites, especially on long holiday weekends. In parts of Canada, three- to five-hour drives to the nearest T&T are common, devotees say.
The market was born out of necessity, Tina Lee explained, as her mother became weary of shopping at so many stores — one for produce, one for meat, one for seafood, one for baked goods and so on — for her family. She recalled her mother saying, “I’ve had it. I need an Asian version of Safeway.” The T&T stands for Tina and her sister, Tiffany.
This San Jose market location was three years in the making.
Lee took an interest in the Westgate space, formerly home one to one of Walmart’s neighborhood groceries, but decided it was too small. So executive vice president Jeff Kreshek of Federal Realty, owners of the center, flew north to check out one of the newer T&T’s in Washington.
“It was like nothing I’d ever seen,” said Kreshek, adding that he packed his suitcase full of T&T goodies to take home. “We worked it out. We expanded the space” — to 50,000 square feet. “We’re so happy to bring this to the San Jose community.”
Turns out the location holds sentimental appeal for the T&T sisters. At Saratoga and Campbell avenues, the store sits mere miles from where they visited their “Auntie No. 1” in Saratoga on summer vacations, Tina said.
Two more Bay Area T&T’s are in the works. A store at San Francisco Centre is slated to open later this year, and a Millbrae one is planned for the second quarter of 2027.
Details: Open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. at 1600 Saratoga Ave., San Jose; tntsupermarket.us/eng