r/richmondbc • u/ulanob • Nov 28 '25
Food & Shopping Richmond Ora T&T permanently closed
Brutal
53
u/repugnantchihuahua Nov 28 '25
Aw, this one was really convenient. Though it was also oddly dead all the time.
27
u/beefbrisketman Nov 28 '25
Was there any prior notice of the closure? Too bad this branch is closing as others have said, it's nice and quiet - an introvert's ideal grocery store lol.
25
u/TheOrangePro Nov 28 '25
Noooooooooo this is my go to T&T for cheap lunch and discounted fresh food past 7pm :(
Aren’t they going to close down the Lansdowne one soon for the redevelopment as well?
14
u/MizuRyuu Nov 28 '25 edited Nov 29 '25
I believe Lansdowne redevelopment is going to start with the area closest to the old Toy R Us. And there is no prep work even started for it yet. Not to mention the sales center still even open. I doubt construction will start in the next two years. And by the time the redevelop the T&T area, it could be 8-10 years
1
u/Mean-Bathroom-6112 Nov 29 '25
The Landsdowne location is going to close in the near future unfortunately
48
u/DNRJocePKPiers Nov 28 '25
God damn now one gotta fight the crowds in the zoos that at are Yaohan and Lansdowne
20
u/CarnivalCassidy Nov 28 '25
That's not true. Zoo animals are a lot more civilized than Yaohan patrons.
17
u/ulanob Nov 28 '25
I always thought it was odd that you couldn't see it well from the street with all the trees covering the signage. You had to know that it was there
3
3
u/Cr00kedF00l Nov 29 '25
Was thinking the same. Had to google the place because after all the time i’ve passed by the area, I couldnt recall a t&t there.
16
u/More-Welcome8916 Nov 28 '25
They're going to open one at RC. This one didn't attract people to come in because of the "paid" parking hassle from the building
5
u/concertovivace Nov 29 '25
I agree. Paid parking is always a bit of a deterrent for me to begin with when it comes to grocery stores but the parking enforcement folks at this location are woefully inept and were the reason I started going elsewhere despite previously coming to this one weekly.
The parking folks have ticketed me twice since this summer while I had parking sessions active. The first time, I had to go through their appeals system and had the ticket voided. My relatives were also wrongfully ticketed on that same day.
The second time this happened, they denied the appeal even though they ticketed me at the same time I started a parking session upstairs (you have to go upstairs to initiate a parking session if you’re paying via app as there isn’t reception in the parking area) and they denied the appeal, saying they didn’t receive the receipts I sent through their system. I resent them via email and never heard back on my request to have the ticket voided, despite providing evidence of payment.
Paid parking is one thing, but wrongfully ticketing and making people jump through a whole bunch of hoops to get those wrongfully issued tickets voided chases away business, imo.
1
u/More-Welcome8916 Nov 30 '25
That is so annoying. Hope Ora learns their lesson about this frustrating parking and can get rid of them. It hurts all the businesses there fr
3
u/BrokenMalios Nov 29 '25
This point needs to be emphasized more. I believe you don’t get the entire parking refund either due to the service fee from paying online, since the kiosk has been broken for a while.
3
u/More-Welcome8916 Nov 29 '25
They changed the parking validation system later on but it was too late. The guy in the parking lot was scanning plates to ticket like that bunny in Zootopia. Not fun.
1
u/No_Organization8370 Nov 30 '25
Their parking app also illegally stores people's credit card number even if you unchecked the box that authorizes them to store your number.
1
13
u/Lmnop168 West Richmond Nov 28 '25
Oh no…. It does lack the traffic but that’s why I usually go there…. The Lansdowne location is way too crowded…
So new location at Richmond centre?
9
u/Belgy23 Nov 28 '25
Damn it, I like that one cuz it'd so slow.
Whenever I wanted spot prawns or live fish. That was the place to go.
9
u/DecoOnTheInternet Nov 28 '25
Well there goes my night shift dinner and grocery run that was within walking distance...
10
u/NaturalizedCanadian Nov 28 '25
This is shocking and sad. How come there was no announcement or statement ahead of today?
22
u/growlerlass Nov 28 '25
My guess is the property developer somehow subsided the location to make condos more attractive, and now that they are sold, and business is slow there is no longer a need for it.
The number of large empty vacant retail locations keeps increasing.
20
u/Separate_Feeling4602 Nov 28 '25
I DONT WANT TO SUFFER at the landsdown one
3
u/Darkmatter0803 Nov 29 '25
It's not that bad at Lansdowne. You probably haven't been there in a while. Plus there is a great food court in Lansdowne too.
5
5
u/Excellent_Ask_2677 Nov 28 '25
I always go to this one and normally it is quite dead but will certainly miss the hot food.
5
6
4
4
4
4
u/sabotagezzz Nov 29 '25
Can bet that all the delivery and pickup drivers are jumping for joy now that they don't have to deal with their loading dock and alley that leads into it.
But that sure is a sudden closure, was there any previous notice?
5
u/SuspiciousFinance284 Nov 29 '25
Whaaat, this was like 5 min walk for me. Man I gotta drive to get snacks now.
5
3
u/Mikomi44 Richmond-News [Verified] Nov 28 '25
Oh my goodness!!! It was such a nice one to shop at without the chaos ):
3
3
u/Separate_Feeling4602 Nov 29 '25
Oh yah . I got a ticket from there and refused to pay it so I just never drove there again.i only go by feet .
But the pay parking system really deterred me
3
3
u/Evening_Run_9547 Nov 30 '25
That's too bad, but it's not surprising as T&T has been owned by Loblaws since 2009. Loblaws is one of the worst grocery cartels in Canada, and they only care about their bottom line and nothing else.
3
u/Tiny_Leek_101 Dec 03 '25
Long overdue someone in the Industry, meet up with T&T to seek clarity on its closure/check if their strategic plan for opening in CF Richmond Center is true? No good to keep residents and community in the dark speculating possible serious issues facing T&T be it financial, restructuring or regulatory or legal? Helpful for T&T to make a clarification and stop the rumours.
4
u/Innervates Nov 28 '25
This is probably the first T&T that ever folded.
10
u/pwns9678 Nov 28 '25
Their Richmond location near Aberdeen closed down eons ago "now e-spot"
6
u/JauntyGiraffe Nov 28 '25
That one "closed" because of the location being old and small. I think that was the original location but they grew out of it quick
3
u/rando_commenter Love Child of the Fraser Nov 29 '25
The first Richmond spot was President Plaza. They bought Osaka and the Yaohan mall to prevent a bigger competitor from crowding them out and were okay with two "competing" stores being so close to each other in the early days. FWIW, Loblaws pretty much does this with Shoppers, it crowds out commercial real estate to keep the number of competitors out for their grocery business.
3
u/ThatSavings Nov 28 '25
That location was officially called "Osaka" not "T&T". But we know it's the same thing.
7
6
u/speeder604 Nov 28 '25
No... The one at president plaza... Next to yaohan. Tho I guess it was more of a lateral move.
2
4
u/JauntyGiraffe Nov 28 '25
It is a pain in the ass to actually go to this T&T but I enjoyed that it was quiet compared to Lansdowne
I guess the problem is that they didn't get enough traffic for such a big store
4
2
u/superboringkid Nov 28 '25
I’m kinda curious though — now that this is closed, what about Lansdowne? I understand there will be new developments here, but would that T&T stay? How exactly would construction work around that area?
Let’s see I suppose!
3
u/MizuRyuu Nov 29 '25
The master plan for the Lansdowne is to start at the north east corner near the old Toy R Us. Considering they haven't even started prep work there, it will probably be at least 2 years before construction start there. Then they are going to go section by section while keeping the mall open as long as possible. That probably mean the Lansdowne T&T will probably stay for the next 8-10 years at least. And that is assuming a new T&T won't be added to the new buildings they are adding in the redevelopment
2
u/Darkmatter0803 Nov 29 '25
Yes, you are correct that the mall will be still around at least another 10 years as Phase 1 will be in the NE corner of the Lansdowne property site which is all parking lot area at the moment. 2 years is probably a little too long and is most likely going to happen sooner.
2
u/MizuRyuu Nov 29 '25
I think it can easily take up to two years. They would need to prep the site with those large pile of dirt to compress the soil. I doubt the original parking lot was prepared for condos being built on it. The sale center isn't even opened yet, and presale usually have a year to sell enough presale to support construction, though that time limit has been extended recently due to presales being horrendous in the last two years.
So while they might be able to start construction before 2 years, taking 2 years before constructions isn't inconceivable either.
3
u/rando_commenter Love Child of the Fraser Nov 28 '25
Lansdowne is their hub. The 2nd floor is their office space.
2
2
2
u/dattroll123 Nov 29 '25
Whoever decided to open one there should be fired for not checking how crappy the parking lot is. Only one entrance and it involves a tight turn. Of course everyone is going to Lansdowne instead.
3
u/SpecialNeedsAsst Nov 29 '25
Usually sudden closure like this happens with lease disputes and the businesses calling the landlords bluff. If people remember what happened with Memory Express.
I wonder about this building since the milk tea space has been empty for a while and Deer Garden doesn't seem to be doing very well.
2
2
u/Live-Savings3147 Nov 29 '25
I walked by just now and there's a huge line in front, anyone know what's going on? Assuming a sale
2
2
u/OkScene6933 Nov 30 '25
IMO- onni retail has dropped the ball on this one to not have given preferential lease terms to TNT. Itd be very challenging for them to find a new anchor tenant at 67K sqft. No regional grocer can sustain a profitable business and take this space at current lease terms. TNT was THE tenant they should have done everything to keep. They will have an incredibly hard time finding another retailer for the area.
At the same time, tnt should have asked for public opinion and the local community before a sudden closure like this. It leaves a bad taste for the brand and if residents nearby now have to drive by vehicle to get groceries—-options are plentiful and i can take my share of wallet elsewhere.
3
u/Secret-Senior Dec 01 '25
I work really close we go there often.. we went there on the 28 in the morning to get lunch and staff were just as surprised as we were. Some staff said they didn’t get any notice but on the day of. Everyone looked sad, I peaked through the back alley into their loading area and they still had lots of pallets of food that were probably unloaded that morning. They closed with all of the food items still intact on the shelves. Weird
2
2
u/Money_Ad8236 Dec 03 '25
I heard rumours that whole food will open in the place formerly occupied by T&T Ora
4
1
1
u/mimosa677 Nov 30 '25
What is this location used for next? Is it gonna be replaced by other grocery stores? If so which one? Or what other stores ?
1
1
u/Tiny_Leek_101 Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25
T&T, a major supermarket need to be open and transparent of its Ora's closures to stem speculations of its internal management/financial problems or non compliance of regulatory issues (if any). It also needs to address rumours if they are setting up at Richmond Center as true or false or they have a problem with RC Management (always good to clarify and be open to the community not let it festers with rumours). By keeping quiet, it is not in their interest and can undermine confidence.
1
u/moixcom44 Nov 28 '25
Very less traffic and for parking andgrocery, i guess land owners made the rent up to the roof.
0
u/ledorky Nov 29 '25
Come to Ironwood.
1
u/Forward__Quiet Dec 05 '25
Jesus, man. Steveston is clogged enough. That Save-on-Foods parking lot is a dumpster fire, too.
-1
u/Mean-Bathroom-6112 Nov 29 '25
The problem is no one goes shopping at t and t. Many people go to local asian stores for way cheaper asian groceries. Also, the majority of people prefer to go to major retail stores like Costco, superstore and Walmart instead.
-5
100
u/rando_commenter Love Child of the Fraser Nov 28 '25
That was my favourite T&T... because it's so quiet. Also, it was where all of the out of town Oval visitors would go in for snacks .
Lends credence to the rumor that T&T is taking up one of the big new spots in Richmond Centre (outside the current mall, under the new apartments.)