‘They’re not coming’: N.B. border town says fewer U.S. visitors making big impact
Traffic at the New Brunswick-Maine border is down 38 per cent, and for businesses that rely on traffic from south of the border, it’s been a real struggle.
In the town of St. Stephen, N.B., the stream of cross-border shoppers from Maine has slowed down to a trickle.
“They used to come over every Friday, Saturday, they’d do their shopping, groceries over here and everything. And they’re not coming here now,” said Cathy Sears, who runs King St. Take Out.
“We had to bump up our prices and we have to close two days a week because of no sales.”
The town’s mayor, Allan MacEachern, says efforts are underway within the National Border Mayors’ Alliance to secure tariff relief or government grants, but results have been slow to come.
“We’re totally reliant on the movement of people and products and being a border community, that’s exactly what we are. So, we need that traffic,” he said.
Despite cross-border tensions, one local bakery reports rising sales — up 15 per cent. The Fat Pie’s owner, Mike Porcelli, credits a renewed focus on Canadian-made products and increased loyalty.
“Business has not really dropped, it’s kind of increased and there’s been kind of an influx of Americans who just across the border come here every day and a lot of them actually apologize for this whole tariff thing,” he said.
“They claim it wasn’t their fault, they claim they didn’t vote for that. They’ve been extremely nice about it.”
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