Canadian border sales show signs of recovery in August

Tina Milton

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Year-on-year border sales registered an increase during the month of August due to a rise in Canadians crossing the US border to capitalise on the strong Canadian dollar

Canada’s border store retailers recorded promising trading results during August, according to the Canada Border Services Agency. Year-on-year sales increased by 1.07% to C$19.4m ($19.93m) for the month of August, and regional growth was also registered at Prairies, Pacific, Atlantic/Quebec and Ontario.

Frontier Duty Free Association (FDFA), which represents Canadian border store operators, attributed the sales increases to a growing number of Canadians crossing the US border due to the strong Canadian dollar.

However, land border duty-free sales decreased by 5.8% to C$100m ($102.7m) from January to August compared with the same period the previous year. Accessories (purses and wallets) and glassware, watches and clocks enjoyed a rise in sales over the same period. FDFA executive director Laurie Karson commented: "However our industry continues to see challenges with border congestion at some land border crossings going into the US [due to tighter security checks], confusion over identification requirements and lower US travel to Canada."

Meanwhile, sales at Canada's airport duty-free stores were up by 1.07% to C$106.6 ($109.5m) from January to August compared with the same period last year. Year-on-year Canadian airport duty-free sales grew by 55% to C$16.19m ($16.64m) during the month of August, driven in part by a rise in sales of accessories (purses and wallets), beer, food, jewellery, fragrances and cosmetics and souvenirs.