The world foods opportunity is bigger than the aisle

Mainstream retailers are investing heavily in world foods. The ranges are growing, the space is increasing and the intent is genuine. A visit to T&T Supermarket's newest store in Mississauga suggests the opportunity is larger than most are currently reaching for.

One of IGD's global trends for 2026 is retailers racing to capture the world on their shelves. Walking one of T&T's most advanced stores makes clear just how high that bar has been set.

T&T Supermarket is Canada's largest Asian grocery retailer, serving Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Filipino communities across 39 stores in North America. Owned by Loblaw, Canada's largest grocery operator, it has grown into a distinctive and commercially successful format that has recently expanded into the USA.

What best in class looks like

The retailer’s most recent launch in Mississauga, Ontario, represents the latest version of the format. At 40,000 sq ft, shoppers will discover live seafood, a large scale produce department, an in-store kitchen, a sushi counter and a self-serve hot food bar alongside one of the most unique bakeries in retail. Asian beauty and skincare, dedicated Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino ranges, and seasonal and cultural festivals complete the proposition.

What makes this store particularly impactful is that alongside all this cultural depth, sits the full infrastructure of a mainstream grocery operation; loyalty, retail media and private brand all working in the same environment. The result is a format that combines deep cultural relevance with operational sophistication of a leading mainstream grocer.

Where the world foods aisle works

Developing the world foods aisle is a commercially important strategy. For mainstream retailers serving increasingly diverse catchments, a well-executed world foods offer drives incremental basket spend, increases visit frequency among multicultural shoppers and signals that the store understands the full range of its community’s needs. The investment many retailers are currently making is the right response to a genuine opportunity.

Where it needs to go further

However, range expansion alone is not enough. T&T demonstrates that multicultural shoppers are looking for a store that understands them, including their food culture, seasonal celebrations and broader shopping missions. T&T earns that understanding through authentic prepared food, information panels that introduce unfamiliar products, in-store events and a depth of range that demonstrates commitment.

Many world foods aisles sit as a discrete section within a store that otherwise reflects mainstream tastes and shopping habits. That makes it harder for mainstream retailers to build deep loyalty with multicultural shoppers through range expansion alone. For shoppers with a strong cultural identity, that gap is visible and it shapes their loyalty decisions accordingly.

The window is limited

T&T is expanding rapidly. It now has stores in the US as it continues to expand in Canada, adding a loyalty infrastructure, retail media capabilities and private brands to the cultural depth that built its reputation. A format that combines that level of cultural credibility with the full commercial toolkit of a modern grocery operation raises the bar for everyone. This makes it even harder for mainstream retailers to displace the relationship between multicultural shoppers and the formats that have earned their trust over time. The world foods aisle is the foundation, but the retailers building most effectively on it will be those that treat it as a starting point for a much bigger ambition.

Rewriting the rules for manufacturers

For manufacturers, the growth of formats like T&T changes the commercial landscape in two ways. Distribution within specialist formats is becoming strategically more important as these stores grow and attract higher frequency visits from core multicultural shoppers. Understanding what drives loyalty and basket composition within these formats is also essential for any manufacturer with ambitions to win in diverse markets.

The new benchmark

The mainstream world foods aisle will remain a significant opportunity. Knowing what shoppers expect beyond it is what will determine who captures the full prize. As retailers globally rethink their multicultural strategy, formats like T&T Supermarket are becoming increasingly important benchmarks within IGD’s retail trends and store visits.