Canadian dollar plus for retailers Hike in value boosts Maine trade

MADAWASKA – The higher value of the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar during the past six months has been positive for Maine’s border town retailers because Americans are shopping more in Maine stores rather than traveling to Canadian stores, where the dollar now buys less.

The U.S. dollar has steadily decreased since last July, falling from $1.47 Canadian to $1.27 Canadian, according to the Bank of Canada.

Northern Maine retailers are now selling more gas, furniture, restaurant food, groceries and lumber. Canadians increasingly cross the border to buy items like cigarettes, gasoline, milk and other groceries for their money.

They can buy a gallon of milk for $3.50 to $4.00 Canadian in Madawaska while they must spend $6.25 to $6.75 for a gallon in Edmundston stores.

Gasoline is 20 cents a liter cheaper for Canadians filling up their tanks in northern Maine and paying with Canadian money. The cost of American cigarettes is also lower.

In the 1980s, American businesses along the border had more Canadian customers and Americans stayed home because the Canadian dollar’s value was higher. The 1990s changed that situation and Canadians stayed home in droves and Americans purchased more in Canada with their strong U.S. dollars.

American retailers are seeing the best exchange rates they’ve seen in more than a decade.

The value of the Canadian and American dollars fluctuates for a variety of reasons, including interest rates, the cost of living, inflation and import-export competitiveness, according to Brad Ritz, associate professor of business and economics at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

For the small U.S. retailers, or those within 30 miles of the border, it means the cash register is ringing more often.

“Of course business has been better,” Patrick Labbe of Nadeau’s House of Furniture at Fort Kent, said Tuesday. “People are staying on this side, shopping here.”

He’s selling more furniture to Americans. Canadians are still staying away from his store because they would have to pay a 15 percent tax on goods at the border.

“The difference has been enough that it shows,” said the retailer.

For Maine convenience store retailers, the difference is 15 percent better.

“Business sales [gasoline, cigarettes, milk] have increased by 15 percent,” Scott Beaulieu, manager of Larry’s One Stop at Madawaska said Tuesday.

Beaulieu said 75 percent of his business is customers paying with Canadian money. He is also making money when he exchanges Canadian money for American money at Canadian banks.

“We don’t lose as much when we exchange our money in Edmundston,” he said. “That’s helped as much as 15 percent.”

“Canadians are coming here more,” he said. “The difference makes us a little bit more competitive.”

Craig Paradis, owner of Paradis Family Shop and Saves, a chain of six stores from Fort Kent to Calais and Brewer, has noticed a change, although not a large one.

“It’s been a minor change,” he said recently. “I don’t think it’s necessarily due to Canadian discount, but to people [Americans] not going across as much. It’s probably due to that.”

He’s selling more groceries at stores in both Fort Kent and Madawaska.

The change seems evident heading south along the border from the St. John Valley.

“I have been hearing there is an increase in business. The numbers of Canadians here is increasing,” Chris Batby, administrator of the Houlton Chamber of Commerce said last week. “It’s the general feedback I am getting from members,” she said.

“Instead of coming just to one store, they are staying longer and going to several places before returning home.”