This new 24,000 sq. ft. Asian food hall pushes experiential retail at Tsawwassen Mills | Daily Hive

TM Wander: This new 24,000 sq. ft. Asian food hall pushes experiential retail at Tsawwassen Mills

TM Wander food hall at Tsawwassen Mills, as seen on May 30, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

While much of the attention over the past week has focused on the highly anticipated and sophisticated opening of Vancouver’s new Oakridge Park mall and the arrival of the globally recognized Time Out Market’s Vancouver food hall location within that mall, another culinary destination has comparatively quietly debuted south of the Fraser River.

TM Wander, a new Asian food hall at Tsawwassen Mills, officially opened this past weekend with its first 12 food and beverage vendors, plus various small retailers.

Stepping into TM Wander is less like entering a shopping mall food hall or food court and more like walking into a colourful festival.

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This space of 24,000 sq. ft. — just under half the size of Time Out Market — is defined by bold, theatrical design elements that create a sense of spectacle from the moment visitors pass through its traditional Chinese-inspired entrance gate.

Above diners, hundreds of illuminated cube lanterns hang from the ceiling, each decorated with vibrant illustrations of animals from the Chinese zodiac and traditional folk-art motifs. The suspended lanterns create a canopy of colour stretching across the market, drawing the eye upward and transforming what could have been a standard commercial space into a visually immersive experience.

TM Wander food hall at Tsawwassen Mills, as seen on May 30, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

At the centre of the food hall floats perhaps its most memorable feature: a massive dragon lantern installation suspended overhead. Wrapped in intricate patterns and illuminated with vivid colours, the dragon winds through the market like a centrepiece at a lantern festival, reinforcing the venue’s Asian cultural inspiration while serving as a dramatic focal point visible from nearly every corner of the hall.

The design continues beyond the dining area. A corridor lined with small retail kiosks — evoking a traditional Asian night market — is covered by a ceiling of pink cherry blossoms, creating the feeling of strolling beneath flowering trees during springtime.

Elsewhere, oversized lanterns, neon signage, and large-scale murals contribute to a lively atmosphere reminiscent of the bustling night markets found throughout East and Southeast Asia.

Rather than adopting the minimalist aesthetic common in many modern food halls, TM Wander embraces maximalism. Bright colours, oversized decorations, and immersive themed environments combine to create a destination that feels part food market, part cultural showcase, and part experiential attraction.

TM Wander food hall at Tsawwassen Mills, as seen on May 30, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

The result is a food hall designed as much for exploration and social media photography as it is for dining.

Wide communal seating areas face a performance stage equipped with large digital screens, as the space was conceived not only as a collection of restaurants but as an entertainment venue capable of hosting cultural events, live performances, and community gatherings. The stage can be rented for events, and there is also an application-based free stage use opportunity for groups and performers looking to showcase their talent to a public audience.

Between scheduled Chinese cultural performances during the opening weekend, the food hall’s audio system played on loop a flamboyant English-language theme song written specifically for TM Wander. Not many food courts and food halls can claim to have their own theme song — a level of branding rarely seen outside theme parks.

As for its food and beverage offerings, TM Wander brings together some of Metro Vancouver’s most popular Asian dining concepts under one roof. Among them is the food hall’s anchor tenant, Big Way Hot Pot, though the location is smaller than many of the chain’s standalone brick-and-mortar restaurants elsewhere in Metro Vancouver.

Other vendors include Shanghai-inspired restaurant Dinesty Dumpling House; South Korean rice hot dog chain Chung Chun; Indian street food concept Rollazy; bubble tea shops Limeegee and Real Fruit Bubble Tea; Mediterranean eatery Ankabut; Japanese restaurant Amu Katsu & BBQ; Hong Kong-style diner Gong Hey HK Cafe; Japanese and Korean street food vendor Cha Don; dessert shop FinFin Taiyaki & Soft Serve; and Teriyaki Experience, which serves Japanese-inspired fare.

A few of the units for food and beverage vendors have yet to open, including Gong Hey, serving Hong Kong-inspired cuisine.

TM Wander food hall at Tsawwassen Mills, as seen on May 30, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

TM Wander is the latest project in owner Ruby Liu’s ongoing effort to transform Tsawwassen Mills from a shopping mall into a destination, especially one that has a strong Asian flair. When Tsawwassen Mills opened in 2016 as one of Metro Vancouver’s largest shopping centres, its design and concept were largely a template of Canadian real estate giant La Caisse’s (formerly Ivanhoe Cambridge) existing suburban malls of CrossIron Mills near Calgary and Vaughan Mills near Toronto.

Since acquiring the mall’s 99-year leasehold interest on Tsawwassen First Nation reserve lands from La Caisse in 2022, Liu has pursued a strategy focused on experiences rather than retail alone — introducing new entertainment offerings, cultural events, and increasingly elaborate attractions throughout the complex.

Last year, Daily Hive Urbanized shared some highly conceptual preliminary artistic renderings of how Tsawwassen Mills could evolve over time with more theming and experiences to create a more immersive retail and entertainment environment.

The vision for TM Wander takes one of the global retail industry’s biggest pivots in recent years — creating immersive, experience-driven destinations — and pushes it to its logical extreme. While shopping centres across North America are adding food halls, entertainment venues, and Instagram-friendly installations to attract visitors, Tsawwassen Mills has embraced the concept with extreme enthusiasm. This was also the approach that Liu had tried to bring to dozens of former Hudson’s Bay locations across Canada last year, which ultimately failed when a judge ultimately rejected her proposal to acquire the property leases.

For better or worse, subtlety is not part of the formula. But judging by the crowds that packed the food hall during its opening weekend, that may be exactly what the mall owner is counting on.

TM Wander does not replace the 2016-built conventional food court near the core of the sprawling mall building complex, featuring over a dozen food and beverage vendors, including highly familiar global fast food giants.

Just across from the entrance of TM Wander is the recently opened Fly O Land Kids’ Play Centre, an indoor amusement centre and playground for young children. TM Wander and Fly O Land are located next to Entrance 3 — the westernmost end of the mall building.

One of Tsawwassen Mills’ newest retailers, which opened earlier this spring, is MUJI. There is no indication of the potential future use of the vacant 33,000 sq. ft. former retail unit of Saks OFF 5th outlet store, which closed last year when the Hudson’s Bay Company went under.

TM Wander food hall at Tsawwassen Mills, as seen on May 30, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

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