T&T Supermarket’s newly announced move into CF Markville is a local Markham story, but it says something bigger about Canadian shopping in 2026. Cadillac Fairview said on September 4 that T&T will relocate and expand its Unionville store into a 68,000-square-foot space on the lower level of CF Markville, in the former Hudson’s Bay area. The transition is planned for 2028, and Canadian Grocer reported that the current Unionville location is about 50,000 square feet. For shoppers, the headline is not just the size. It is the growing idea that a grocery store can be a main reason to visit a mall, not just an errand on the way home.
That matters because Canadian malls are trying to replace old department-store habits with more frequent, practical trips. A department store might draw a family a few times a season. A full-service grocery store can draw people weekly, especially if it includes fresh produce, prepared meals, bakery, seafood, pantry items and beauty products in one stop. Cadillac Fairview says the Markham store is expected to be the largest Asian grocery store in Markham and T&T’s 18th location in Ontario. Retail Insider also noted that it is part of a wider T&T expansion year that includes North York’s RioCan Empress and a planned Gilmore, B.C. location.
The timing fits the way Canadians are shopping now. Retail Council of Canada research released this summer found that price is the starting point for many shoppers, but not the only factor. The RCC/Leger study said 58% of purchases are completed in-store, 39% are made online, 66% of shoppers use in-store browsing during research, and 37% switch retailers when products are out of stock. In plain English: people are comparing more, they are willing to move, and they do not want a wasted trip. A grocery anchor inside a mall can help if it lets shoppers combine groceries, returns, pharmacy, school supplies, clothing basics, food court meals and errands in one visit.
The grocery angle is especially important because food prices are still top of mind. Statistics Canada’s July CPI release said food purchased from stores rose 3.1% year over year in July 2026, slower than June’s 3.9%, but still above the all-items CPI for the 18th month in a row. That does not mean every item is rising at the same pace. It does mean households are still watching the cart carefully. A larger specialty grocer can be useful when it adds competition on produce, rice, noodles, sauces, frozen foods, seafood, ready-to-eat meals and private-label or house-brand options. The practical takeaway is to treat new or expanded grocery stores as price-checking opportunities, not automatic bargains.
For Markham shoppers, the useful move is to build a comparison list before the new store opens rather than relying on memory. Pick 10 repeat items your household buys often, such as jasmine rice, eggs, tofu, chicken, apples, greens, cooking oil, soy sauce, dumplings and a prepared meal. Track the regular price at your current stores and the sale price when it appears. When the expanded T&T opens, compare the same basket over several visits. This avoids the common trap of saving on one flashy item while paying more on the rest of the cart. If you live outside Markham, the same method works whenever a new grocery anchor opens in your area.
There is also a convenience question. Bigger stores can offer more selection, but they can also encourage bigger carts. Prepared foods and bakery counters are useful when they replace takeout, but less useful if they simply add impulse spending to an already full grocery run. The best household rule is to decide the trip type before walking in: stock-up, quick meal, specialty ingredients, or browsing. If the trip is for dinner, compare the cost of a prepared T&T meal against restaurant delivery, not against raw ingredients you were never going to cook that night. If the trip is for pantry goods, stay out of the snack and beauty aisles unless those were on the list.
The broader Canadian retail trend is worth watching. As former department-store spaces get reused, more malls may chase grocery, entertainment, fitness, medical, discount and service tenants that create regular foot traffic. That can be good for shoppers when it adds choice and keeps convenient retail space alive. It can be less helpful if the new mix becomes mostly premium experiences with few everyday deals. T&T’s CF Markville plan looks like a sign that food retail is becoming one of the strongest anchors in Canadian malls. For shoppers, the win will come from using that extra choice deliberately: compare baskets, watch unit prices, combine errands, and let stores compete for the weekly trip.
Source trail: - Cadillac Fairview — “A Massive T&T Supermarket Is Coming to CF Markville” — https://www.cadillacfairview.com/news/A-Massive-TT-Supermarket-Is-Coming-to-CF-Markville/ - Canadian Grocer — “T&T Supermarket to relocate Markham, Ont. store” — https://canadiangrocer.com/tt-supermarket-relocate-markham-ont-store - Retail Insider — “Massive T&T Supermarket to open in former Bay space at CF Markville” — https://retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2026/09/massive-tt-supermarket-to-open-in-former-bay-space-at-cf-markville/ - Statistics Canada — “Consumer Price Index, July 2026” — https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/260817/dq260817a-eng.htm - Retail Council of Canada / CNW — “New Research: How Canadian Shoppers Are Navigating Affordability — And What It Means for Competition and Choice” — https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/new-research-how-canadian-shoppers-are-navigating-affordability-and-what-it-means-for-competition-and-choice-853064055.html