After greater than three many years in enterprise, the proprietor of a New Brunswick obligation free store says he has no selection however to shut down inside the subsequent six weeks.
Ongoing political tensions between Canada and the USA, and a commerce warfare sparked by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, have meant fewer cross-border vacationers and guests.
John Slipp, who runs Woodstock Obligation Free Store in Belleville, N.B., says previous to the COVID-19 pandemic, he noticed upwards of 200 individuals in his store on a summer season day.
Now, he will get about 20.
“Back in 2017, I was starting to kind of think and talk out loud about retiring in 10 years from then,” he mentioned.
“Because of COVID and the current situation, those retirement plans are out the window. We’ve had to spend personal savings to in order to manage.”
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On the age of 59, he says he has no selection however to seek out different employment as soon as he closes up the obligation free store.
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As a lifelong resident of the New Brunswick border city, which borders with Maine, Slipp says he may by no means have imagined Canadian-American relations would ever attain the purpose they’re at now.
“Americans, interestingly enough, have more apprehension about the border … The immigration enforcement activities in the United States has created a fear for many about travelling and about the border experience,” he mentioned.
“(Meanwhile,) Canadians are angry. Canadians are reluctant to go.”
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‘It’s catastrophic’
Slipp’s expertise isn’t remoted.
In line with Statistics Canada knowledge, return journeys from the U.S. by automobile are down 33 per cent in comparison with June of final 12 months.
That is having a devastating influence on gross sales at obligation free retailers, whose laws prohibit them from making home gross sales.
“Our industry is an export only business and we rely 100 per cent on that traffic going over the border,” mentioned Barbara Barrett, the chief director of Frontier Obligation Free Affiliation.
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“So when you drive into the parking lot of a land border duty free stop, you absolutely have to exit into the United States and all of our product goes directly into the Unites States.”
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She says obligation free retailers throughout Canada are seeing freefalling gross sales and a few of them are having hassle holding the lights on.
A latest survey carried out by the affiliation discovered a 3rd of their shops may shut in the event that they don’t obtain assist from the federal authorities.
“We’ve been a part of the Canadian tourism fabric for over 40 years now. When we lose them, we’re not getting them back,” she mentioned.
“That would be a tremendous shame. So that’s where we’re at. It’s catastrophic.”
