Customers weigh in on London’s new T&T Supermarket

T&T Supermarket opened its newest location in London on Friday morning, with hundreds standing in line waiting for the Asian grocery store’s doors to be unlocked at 9 am LFP reporter Brian Williams was there and spoke with customers about their first impressions

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NATALIE TSANG AND MELISSA CAMERON

Both Tsang, 34, and Cameron, 36, are former Toronto residents and familiar with T&T Supermarket there. Tsang was excited when she learned a location was opening in London because the chain has “good quality Asian groceries.” Tsang said Asian produce is hard to find at “regular” grocery stores and noted T&T’s selection of choys – a type of Chinese cabbage – is better than other grocers. Cameron said the new London location at 530 Oxford. St. W. was “big and beautiful inside and nicely spaced out.” Cameron also cited the supermarket’s bakery as a draw.

AMY PENG

“The best store in London right now,” said Amy Peng, 21, a Western University anthropology student. Peng said the supermarket’s wide selection would allow her to “buy everything” she needed at one location. Although T&T is known primarily for its food, it also has a beauty section. “I was trying to find a place to buy makeup stuff, and they have it all in there, and it’s cheap. . . it’s perfect.”

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EDGAR BARRIOS AND ESNEDA VASQUEZ

Edgar Barrios, 72, said he was drawn to T&T Supermarket after reading an article in a magazine about the store and chief executive Tina Lee. When he’d heard a location was opening in London he said, “OK, I’ll go with my family.” Esneda Vasquez, 70, said she and Barrios showed up looking for fish and purchased salmon. Both Barrios and Vasquez liked the layout of the store and enjoyed the samples available to customers. Vasquez also noted the fresh quality of the products. “Everything is perfect.”

AMAR BANSAL

Amar Bansal, 26, is from Waterloo and has been to T&T’s location there but frequents London to visit his girlfriend. When he heard the new location was opening in the city, he decided to “check out what’s new,” and found the London store has “things that are special to this location,” such as crepes. “I like East Asian food, so I find it interesting to try new things (and) they have lots of it.”

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GRACE

Previously living in Vancouver, Grace Xu, 19, said T&T Supermarkets, founded in Vancouver and headquartered in Richmond, BC, are more prevalent on the west coast and she’s thrilled with the newest location in London. Xu found London’s store “better than Vancouver stores.” The Western University nutrition and visual arts student lauded the large selection of snacks that Xu said she could “only find at T&T.” Xu also enjoys T&T’s “Asian kind of breads.”

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@BrianWatLFPress

The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada

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