‘May not make it through the end of summer': Canada's duty-free shops struggling amid drop in cross-border travel

CTV News

14-07-2025

A sign for a duty free store at the Canada/U.S. border crossing in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que., on Thursday, April 10, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
A duty-free shop at a New Brunswick border crossing is shutting down after more than three decades in business, with its owner warning that more closures could follow as Canada's trade tensions with the United States continue to strain cross-border traffic.
John Slipp, owner of the Woodstock Duty Free Shop in Belleville, N.B., says he plans to close his store within the next six weeks, citing plummeting sales, a drop in Canadian travellers, and the lack of federal support.
'Canadians are not traveling across the border in anywhere near the numbers they normally would be,' Slipp said in an interview with CTV News Channel on Saturday.
'At the end of last year, we were down 20 per cent from 2019, still climbing out of the COVID hole. Now, we're talking 50, 55 to 60 per cent down versus 2019, which is the benchmark.'
While American visitors are welcome, Slipp says his business is heavily dependent on Canadian travellers.
'Canadians are eligible and qualified to shop in a Canadian land border duty-free shop. They are the foundation of our business,' he said.
'And when you remove the tourism season in the summer months, we rely on those Canadians, who are no longer crossing the border.'
The Frontier Duty Free Association, which represents 32 duty free stores across Canada, says many of its members have seen revenue drop between 60 and 80 per cent due to a slowdown in cross-border traffic and tourism.
In June, the association joined 15 border-town mayors in calling for financial support from Ottawa and the alignment of tax and export rules to match American duty free policies.
Slipp says he's spent the past year trying to manage with fewer resources and searching for government help.
'We certainly have been spending less money and trying to manage in a way that would allow us to extend life, if you would, and working with our trade association... to try to get government assistance,' he said, noting that his shop was closed for a year and a half during the pandemic and received some support at the time, under an emergency order, but that assistance has not been renewed.
'We've been asking for the ability to close temporarily and reopen,' he said.
'And for those of us that lease our land from the federal government, we've been looking for assistance, like rent deferral, which they did during the pandemic, but so far, there's been nothing on that front either.'
Slipp says unless conditions improve quickly, more shops like his are at risk.
'Unless there is some miracle in the near future, it appears that my business, and I think probably another half a dozen Canadian land border duty-free shops, will not make it to the end of the year,' he said.
'Some of us may not make it through the end of the summer.'
With closures looming, he's urging both the federal government and Canadian travellers to take action before it's too late.
'For many Canadians I'm sure they have appreciated the opportunity to receive the service and the tax-free goods, currency exchange, and the opportunity to spend their Canadian money in Canada,' he said.
'You're about to lose that not just at the Woodstock-Houlton border crossing, but at a number of border crossings across the country.'
That's why, he says, the time to act is now.
'I would urge Canadians, if you are going to be crossing that border, keep your money in Canada. Spend it at a local Canadian duty free shop (and) help these businesses gain more life.'