The T&T Move That's About to Shorten Walden Pond's Grocery Run

If you live at Walden Pond and you shop at T&T, you already know the drill. You don't walk. You get in the car, cross over to Kennedy Road, and park in the underground lot at 8339 Kennedy, the same store that's been anchoring that stretch of Unionville for fourteen years. It's a fine trip. It's also not a walk, even though your building sits close enough to Markville Mall that groceries, the GO station, and half of Bullock Drive are already within an easy stroll.

That's the detail most of the coverage of T&T's expansion has skipped past. On September 4, 2026, T&T Supermarket announced it's relocating and expanding into the former Hudson's Bay space at CF Markville, growing from 50,000 square feet on Kennedy Road to 68,000 square feet inside the mall itself. Every write-up has led with the size, calling it the largest Asian grocery store in Markham once it opens. The size is real. But the size isn't what changes your Tuesday night. The address does.

The store Walden Pond already knows, moving onto Walden Pond's own corridor

CF Markville sits at Highway 7 East and Bullock Drive, the same intersection Walden Pond residents already cross on foot to reach the mall, the grocery stores, and the Centennial GO platform. T&T's current location, by contrast, is over on Kennedy Road, a separate stretch of Unionville that requires a drive no matter which building on Austin Drive you're coming from.

When the new store opens in 2028, that changes. T&T isn't just building a bigger version of itself. It's moving from a corridor Walden Pond residents drive to, into the exact corridor Walden Pond residents already walk to. Fourteen years of T&T runs by car are about to become a T&T run on the same route you already take to Winners or the GO station.

T&T CEO Tina Lee framed the move as a growth story, not a walkability one, which makes sense from where she sits.

"Unionville has been a wonderful home for us for the past 14 years, and we are proud of everything we have built together with our colleagues and customers. As our customers' needs continue to grow, this bigger store at CF Markville will strengthen our presence in the market."

For the company, this is about square footage and market share, and it's T&T's fourth partnership with Cadillac Fairview, following stores at CF Fairview Mall, CF Sherway Gardens, and CF Polo Park. For the person walking a cart back to Austin Drive, it's about which corridor the milk comes from.

What actually changes, corridor by corridor

Here's the comparison that matters if you're the one doing the shopping, not the one issuing the press release.

The size increase is genuine and worth knowing about on its own. A store that large will carry the full range of T&T's fresh produce, prepared foods, in-store bakery, and Asian beauty section that the smaller Kennedy Road location has never had room for. But for a Walden Pond resident, the walk column is the one that actually rewrites a weekly routine. If you already use the Bullock Drive path to Markville Mall, or the sidewalk that Centennial GO riders use to reach the entrance from the east side of McCowan, you'll be using the same route for groceries you currently drive for.

The mall has been rehearsing this for two years

T&T's move doesn't land as an isolated announcement if you've been paying attention to CF Markville's tenant list. The mall has been quietly rewriting itself since 2024. Indigo opened in October of that year, taking over the spot where Old Navy used to be. Hudson's Bay, the anchor T&T is now stepping into, closed in June 2025. Decathlon closed that July, and Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us followed in August. Four significant tenant changes in under two years, all before T&T's announcement even landed.

Seen against that backdrop, the T&T deal isn't a one-off headline. It's the mall filling its largest vacant box with the tenant most likely to change daily habits rather than just retail options. A bookstore or a sporting goods chain gets you into the mall occasionally. A full-size grocery store gets you there every week, which is a different kind of foot traffic and a different kind of neighborhood amenity.

The 2028 gap, and why it's worth marking on a calendar anyway

None of this happens tomorrow. The transition is planned for 2028, which means two more years of the same Kennedy Road drive for anyone who shops there now. That's a real gap, and it's fair to treat this as a future change rather than a current convenience.

But two years is also short enough that it's worth knowing now rather than being surprised later. If you're the kind of resident who plans a Saturday around the Kennedy Road trip, 2028 is the year that trip gets replaced by a walk down Bullock Drive you're already making for other errands. If you're newer to Walden Pond and haven't built the Kennedy Road habit yet, you may never need to. The store you'll know will simply be the one inside the mall you already visit.

That's a small thing on paper. In practice, it's the difference between a grocery run that requires a car and one that doesn't, on a route that a lot of Walden Pond households are already walking for other reasons. The mall's own leadership called the new store a milestone for the property. For the people who live within walking distance of it, the more useful way to read it is simpler: the grocery store you drive to now is about to become the one you don't have to.

If you're curious about what else is changing around Walden Pond, or you'd like a closer look at what's happening in the building itself, the team at Walker Parker is always glad to talk through what's next for the neighborhood. Book a Consultation whenever you're ready.