US retailers hope this long weekend brings business boom
Posted April 6, 2012 10:35 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BELLINGHAM (NEWS1130) – If your travels take you south of the border today, retailers are waiting for you and your wallet.
“Every time we think we know how big the Canadian traffic’s going to be [and what] the impact’s going to be on our economy… at least in the last two years, we’ve been well-under what it actually has been,” says Ken Oplinger with the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce.
But Oplinger is really looking forward to summer, when shoppers will be able to bring back more duty-free.
“The HST, the parity of the dollar… all these things have helped to drive [shoppers south]. This is just one more reason why I think we’re going to see more Canadian shopping this summer than we have in previous summers,” he tells us.
Oplinger says because of the changes to duty-free rules included in the federal budget, shops selling high-end clothing and electronics are already ramping up.
