Grocer Fills Former Best Buy Space in San Francisco
Operators eyeing vacant big-box retail in San Francisco will see specialty grocers competing for large-format sites.
Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Openings & Closings
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T&T Supermarket opened its first San Francisco store on Wednesday, November 5, 2026, in a 50,000-square-foot space at Anza Vista's City Center shopping complex. The space previously housed a Best Buy that closed nearly a decade ago, and the chain's expansion now reaches a city where grocery operators compete for large-format retail space.
Why it matters
The chain, founded in Vancouver in 1993 and operating nearly 40 locations mostly in Canada and Washington state, is extending its footprint in California after its first San Jose store opened in June. Reclaiming a large vacant box in an established shopping center illustrates how converted big-box space is becoming a route for specialty grocers entering dense urban markets.
The San Francisco store fills a 50,000-square-foot space that sat vacant for nearly a decade after Best Buy closed, adding to a chain of nearly 40 locations founded in 1993. The company's first California store opened in June in San Jose, and the San Francisco location is its first in the U.S. to include a T&T Cafe.
The players
T&T Supermarket
An Asian-focused grocery chain founded in Vancouver in 1993 that operates nearly 40 locations, mostly in Canada and Washington state.
Anza Vista's City Center
A shopping complex that is the site of T&T's San Francisco store and a space where large-format retail is being re-leased.
Tina Lee
Chief executive officer of T&T Supermarket, overseeing the company's operations as it grows.
Jason Lee
Executive who oversees T&T Supermarket's American expansion, including its California locations.
Daniel Lurie
Mayor of San Francisco, who assured the company that the permitting process for the space would be far shorter than feared.
The details
T&T's San Francisco store occupies a large format within Anza Vista's City Center, a complex that has been leasing space to tenants following the earlier Best Buy departure. Cindy Lee cold-called Mayor Daniel Lurie to ask whether taking over the space was feasible, and Lurie assured her the permit process would not take three and a half years. The store carries products that the San Jose location does not, including baby bear bao and tree-ripened mangos sourced from Peru, and includes a cafe that is the chain's first in the U.S.
Timeline
June: T&T opened its first California store in San Jose.
Nearly a decade before the opening: Best Buy closed at the San Francisco space.
Wednesday, November 5, 2026: T&T's San Francisco store opened.
Summer 2027: A Millbrae location on South El Camino Real is scheduled to open.
Shortly after Millbrae: A fourth Bay Area store is set to debut in Newark's NewPark Mall.
Market Landscape
The San Francisco space is a former Best Buy site, reflecting a pattern in which vacated big-box electronics stores are being reused by grocers and other tenants. T&T's move into a dense urban market follows its first California store in San Jose and reflects a regional push by a chain that has been expanding mostly in Canada and Washington state.
Operators leasing or considering large vacant retail boxes in San Francisco should note that specialty grocers are actively taking over former big-box spaces, which can shape competition for similar sites. Retailers in the Bay Area grocery and prepared-food categories may face new competition as T&T adds a cafe and specialty product mix to the regional market.
The takeaway
Operators watching commercial real estate should track how quickly former big-box spaces in established shopping centers are re-leased to food and grocery tenants, since that pace signals available supply for their own expansion. Retail operators planning Bay Area entry should monitor the Millbrae and Newark openings for early indicators of how the chain performs across the peninsula and East Bay.
What happens next
The Millbrae location on South El Camino Real is scheduled to open by summer 2027, and the Newark NewPark Mall store is set to debut shortly after it.
Further reading
For more on other retail openings and closings across the region, see Openings & Closings in our business coverage.
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