BIRMINGHAM, Wash. – The factory outlet places here are tailor-made for Canadian shoppers. Licence plates reveal a large number of British Columbian shoppers are here.
However, the poor exchange rate for Canadian dollars has led to fewer cross-border bargain-seekers. Lineups have dwindled outside customs offices at the 49th parallel. The local economy is stinging.
It didn’t take a drop in federal cigarette taxes, but almost a 30-cent difference in dollar value between two countries to do this.
While most places on the Prairies don’t consider shopping across the border a big problem, except for alcohol or cigarettes, B.C. does.
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Retail and grocery stores, as well as gas stations, are forced to be competitive with a market only an hour or so away from B.C.’s large population located on the lower mainland.
Shoes are one of the hot commodities Canadians want to bring back because of cost, quality or selection.
In U.S. shoe stores, as soon as the salespeople realize the customer is a Canadian, they politely ask if the customer wants to leave the shoe boxes behind and just take the shoes out in bags.
Often Canadians will wear their new shoes home to try avoiding duty costs. On the south side of the border crossings are rest areas with garbage cans that Canadians jokingly refer to as “old shoe dumps.”
When the black and white sheriff cars regularly patrol these rest areas, they seem to ignore beer cans strewn around, and appear to be on the lookout for these sole deserters.
Is it a deal over the border? Consider this: travel costs to go over; state taxes; exchange rate; duty on purchases; possible GST charged on some items; and of course, effects on the Canadian economy. It might not be such a great deal after all.
But the shoes are nice.
