There will be another T&T Supermarket in central Richmond by the end of summer 2018 – and it will be a massive location.

The Richmond-based Asian grocery chain is currently in the process of making renovations to the former Target space within Lansdowne Centre shopping mall, and with 74,000 sq. ft. of space – about twice the size of an average store. It will be the company’s largest location yet.

“Richmond is a bustling centre for the Chinese community in the Lower Mainland, so opening a store in the Lansdowne Centre just made sense for us,” Tina Lee, CEO of T&T Supermarkets, told Daily Hive.

However, the store will be a temporary location that will be open for approximately 10 years, until the phased redevelopment of Lansdowne Centre necessitates the demolition of the space T&T Supermarket is located within.

According to the redevelopment plans by mall owner Vanprop Investments Ltd., the future mixed-use neighbourhood that will replace the existing mall building will consist of residential uses, office space, and retail space for large anchor tenants, including a space for a large grocery store.

A spokesperson for Loblaws Companies Ltd., the parent company of T&T Supermarket, said T&T Supermarket plans on occupying the redevelopment’s new purpose-built retail space when it is ready.

The move into the former Target space on a temporary basis makes sense as it enables T&T Supermarket to quickly retain and capture more of the local grocery store market, which is rapidly growing from downtown Richmond’s rising population.

Additionally, it is a relatively low-cost expansion requiring only modest investment when compared to the cost of a new purpose-built space. This is because the now-defunct Target Canada made significant renovations to the space only about five years ago.

Like other locations across Canada, the Target at Lansdowne Centre shut down in spring 2015.

When the Lansdowne Centre location opens this summer, there will be a total of three T&T Supermarket locations within a two sq. km. radius. This includes the company’s long-held T&T Supermarket Osaka store at Yaohan Centre and the T&T Supermarket store directly across from Richmond Olympic Oval, which opened in 2014.

Up until 2015, the company had a 22,000 sq. ft. store within President Plaza – located next to Yaohan Centre and Aberdeen Centre – but the space remains unoccupied.

The Lansdowne Centre location will be considerably larger than other T&T Supermarket stores.

For comparison, the Richmond Oval Village store is 38,000 sq. ft., the Marine Gateway store is 40,000 sq. ft., and the Metropolis at Metrotown store – the region’s largest – is about 60,000 sq. ft.

The company also plans to open a new 33,000 sq. ft. store at Westbank’s Kensington Gardens mixed-use redevelopment at 2220 Kingsway in East Vancouver by late-2018.

There are currently 23 T&T Supermarket stores across Canada in BC, Alberta, and Ontario.

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