Leaping loonie sends shoppers south
Posted April 9, 2011 2:19 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Our leaping loonie has many Canadian shoppers heading south of the border this weekend, searching for deals. But why are we still seeing a huge price difference on certain items?
We still see both American and Canadian prices on books and magazines, but you could save thousands of dollars on a new car if you buy it in the US.
Bruce Cran with the Consumers’ Association of Canada says BC retailers are losing loads of money. “It doesn’t make any sense at all, we’ve been flirting with parity for something like 48 months. The only thing we can put it down to is greed on the part of retailers in Canada, they’ve been totally reluctant to share any of the benefits.”
He adds stores in BC need to be more competitive. “We’re hoping that eventually there will be some response to what the marketplace should be doing. We’re losing a tremendous amount of money across the line. We have every right as consumers to buy the best prices we can and that’s why people are going to the United States.”
At the end of the week our dollar was up 0.12 to 104.45 US. The last time it hit that level was in November of 2007.
