Canada’s duty-free stores seeing ‘severe’ sales dip amid peak summer season. Here’s why
Global News
Summer months are normally the busiest for most of Canada's border town businesses but duty-free stores are facing a "severe" economic decline compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Summer months are normally the busiest for most of Canada’s border town businesses, but duty-free stores are facing a “severe” economic decline compared to pre-pandemic levels, a new report from the Frontier Duty Free Association (FDFA) released Thursday, shows.
Average sales decreases have floated around 45 per cent for July 2022, the report, released Friday, said. “These export stores were shuttered for nearly two years and were down over 95 per cent in sales during the full closure of the land border for over 18 months,” it added.
“The summer season usually means busloads of people, lineups of people coming over the border and we’re just not seeing the traffic,” Barbara Barrett, executive director of the FDFA, told Global News. “It just means that people aren’t coming.”
Jeff Butler, vice-president of a Thousand Islands Duty Free store in Lansdowne, Ont., says that though his business sits above the average, sales are still down by 35 to 40 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels and the store is still feeling the disparity.
“We are certainly feeling the difference,” he said, speaking of the store located at the Thousand Islands International Border Crossing.
“We’re one of the few places that can only sell to people that cross the border. If people aren’t crossing the border, we cant make sales — and that’s where we are right now.”
According to the duty free association and some of the businesses it represents, the reason for the decrease in sales is because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions — specifically the ArriveCAN app.
“Traffic is not happening because of the ArriveCAN app,” said Barrett. “It’s hurting businesses and hurting border town communities.”
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