Duty free shop in N.B. to close after 31 years due to drop in cross-border shoppers
Global News
The owner of Woodstock Duty Free Shop says he used to see about 200 customers daily in the summer months. Now, he gets about 20.
After more than three decades in business, the owner of a New Brunswick duty free shop says he has no choice but to close down within the next six weeks.
Ongoing political tensions between Canada and the United States, and a trade war sparked by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, have meant fewer cross-border tourists and visitors.
John Slipp, who runs Woodstock Duty Free Shop in Belleville, N.B., says prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, he saw upwards of 200 people in his shop on a summer day.
Now, he gets about 20.
“Back in 2017, I was starting to kind of think and talk out loud about retiring in 10 years from then,” he said.
“Because of COVID and the current situation, those retirement plans are out the window. We’ve had to spend personal savings to in order to manage.”
At the age of 59, he says he has no choice but to find other employment once he closes up the duty free shop.
As a lifelong resident of the New Brunswick border town, which borders with Maine, Slipp says he could never have imagined Canadian-American relations would ever reach the point they are at now.
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