Local Asian grocers business-as-usual despite grocery giant coming to London | CBC News

Owners of local Asian grocery stores say that the opening of a new Asian-focused supermarket in London is an important step in bringing more international food options to the city.

London’s first T&T Supermarket is set to open on Oxford Street on Friday and some competing grocery businesses are happy to see its arrival. 

“I think it’s a good opportunity for people to see something new and for them to have another chance to go shopping at other stores,” said Siriya Sritharang, the owner of Thai Asian Grocery and Boba House. 

“My customers feel excited,” she said. “They say it’s good news because people need something new.”

T&T, originally started in B.C. and owned by Loblaw Companies Ltd., will be the largest Asian grocery store in the city.

It’s a reflection of the growing Asian population in London.

“When we started the business, we didn’t have plenty [of Asian customers] at that time,” said Alvin Bongay, the owner of London-Asian Foods, which opened six years ago.

He said he noticed an increase in the Asian population following the pandemic, which brought more customers into his store. 

According to Statistics Canada, there were nearly 50,000 immigrants from Asia in 2021. This is up from the close to 31,000 Asian immigrants in 2016. 

“When I first came, there were not a lot of people [but] right now, there’s more people especially in this area – a lot of students from Fanshawe,” said Sritharang, who took over her store after moving from Winnipeg in 2015. 

Students were a factor in T&T’s expansion to London. Last year, store CEO and former Western University student, Tina Lee, told CBC’s London Morning that bringing the supermarket to the city has been a longtime plan, due to the city’s strong student and Asian populations.

Specialty items to keep businesses running

Despite the grocery giant coming to town, some small shop owners are confident that their stores will stay in business. 

Sritharang said she gets feedback from shoppers about the types of products they want to see in her store. 

She and other store owners say Asian vegetables, spices, and specific brands of instant noodles, chips and bottled drinks are most in-demand among shoppers. 

“Right now, I know what my customers need,” Sritharang said. “If you know what your customers need, then you can survive.”

Bongay said he thinks the T&T could hurt business at large-scale Asian grocers in the city, like Superking Supermarket and United Supermarket, but not a specialty store like his. 

“Hopefully it’s not affecting my business because I have original products from the Philippines,” Bongay said, adding that he doesn’t think T&T will carry the same selection of items.

His store also has a hot food counter at the back, where people can purchase freshly cooked Filipino dishes. He said the majority of his customers come for hot food, rather than groceries.

“That’s the thing that helps me survive every day,” Bongay said. 

Older shop worried

It’s a different story for Lyda and Hien Thi Lam, the married couple who own Lyda Asian Grocery Store in the city’s east end. 

“I’m worried about the customers because my customers will maybe go to check or buy something there and maybe I’ve lost a customer,” said Lyda Lam, who first heard about T&T’s opening through a shopper.

He said the store isn’t doing anything different ahead of T&T’s opening and will see how business plays out. 

This isn’t the first time the Lams, who opened their store in 2003, have faced competitors in the city. When Superking Supermarket and United Supermarket first opened in London, the couple said their stores faced three months of slow business before naturally picking up again.

Hien Thi Lam said she is worried it might be different this time: the store has been slow lately and she is scared they won’t be able to pay rent if they lose more customers to T&T.

“I don’t know what will happen or how I will do in the future,” she said.

Sritharang said while she also thinks her customers will check out T&T and could be drawn to cheaper prices that she can’t offer at her own store, her regulars will still come back. 

“I’m lucky because the community here supports me,” Stritharang said.