John Slip captured his father’s duty-free store in 1994, which was started more than a decade ago.
This month, he shut down the Woodstock Duty Free Shop Ink. As a low traffic on the US -Canada border, the final blow for the already weakened business by the Kovid -19 epidemic. Now, at the age of 59, Slip says that he will have to find another source of income and is advocating more government support for stores like him.
The people of Canada are moving south in recent months in response to the trade war of US President Donald Trump with Canada, due to their comments on the country’s comments and fears between passengers about the treatment on the border. In the duty-free industry, Slipp said that low border traffic is directly related to low sales.
“It was very difficult. There were many good years in business. I certainly did not want to leave a professional career, to give up, to give it to the defeat, personally and in the context of his late father, to leave it,” Slip said.
At the peak of the store in the early 2000s, Slip said there were about 15 people on employees. In March 2020, he said that he laid four people and reopened after an epidemic with two employees.
Late in summer of 2021, Slipp stated that the duty-free store “all were starting to rebuild again from zero.” By the end of 2024, his business was still at one-fifth place from where it was in 2019.
Then Trump returned to the White House. From January to April this year, things deteriorated for slip stores, and they eventually decided to close on the basis of a drop in sales and traffic numbers.
He said, “Just realizing that the US administration in our industry, even after a change in the road, we do not expect the border traffic to turn overnight.
Statistics Canada’s recent statistics said that returning trips from America in July again fell as Canadians continue to remove the journey to America.
The number of Canadian residents returning from the US by Automobiles was 36.9 percent below an annual basis in July, which was in the seventh consecutive month of year-on-year fall.
Barbara Barrett, Executive Director of the Frontier Duty Free Association, said the stores representing his association have been feeling the fall in traffic for months.
“I will describe my industry as being in a fully developed crisis, and we are saying now for several months,” he said.
The association said that the sale in duty-free stores has been 40 to 50 percent year-on-time across the country since the end of January, reporting an annual decline of up to 80 percent with some remote crossings, the association said.
Barrett said that the duty-free store often has a subtle world of what is happening on the border.
“It should be our busy weather during summer, but it is not; it is an epidemic-tier traffic in the parking lot, and it has closed a store in the past. We are unfortunately afraid that we will probably see more closed because we are attracted to the end of summer,” he said.
Unlike airport shops, which are often owned by international companies, Barrett said that all land boundary reserves are independently owned and are often family -run businesses.
While Canadians remove American visits, travel expert Claire Newl said many domestic and other international destinations are selecting.
“We live in a country where traveling domestic is still very expensive. And when there are many people who are choosing traveling inside Canada, we see more people moving towards popular destinations,” he said.
She said that she does not see Canadian people changing their travel habits normally until a business deal takes place “it seems appropriate.”
As low border traffic weighs on the industry, Barrett said it is advocating “small regulatory changes”.
“Our products have some taxes that believe or not, in a tax and duty-free industry that our American competitors do not. So we are asking for those people, so we can be more competitive,” he said.
“In addition, we are asking to qualify for some of these tariff relief programs or on the lines of the epidemic-tier support, which he supported with subsidy on salary subsidy or rent during epidemic.”
Barrett said that the government is a landlord for many duty-free stores and said that a fare would help the deficcate or subsidy industry until the travel pattern becomes normal. He said that there has been talks between his organization and senior government officials.
Barrett said that those officials agreed that the association was carrying forward “small inquiries” to support the industry.
August 2 Announcing the closure of the Woodstock Duty Free Shop, the release mentioned that federal and provincial governments had promised tariff relief aid programs to help in business stress -affected businesses.
Slipp said, “When I announced both the levels of the government, I gave a lot of expectations on them.
Their focus has now changed to advocate the federal government or a bridge authority as well as loans for duty-free shops for duty-free shops for duty-free shops.
When he sees the future of the industry, he said the possibilities are “not bright.”
“I am mourning the loss of my business, but I am also acknowledging the reality that the business atmosphere has changed and there is nothing in the tricks bag that would suggest positive changes in the moderate period in the industry,” Slip said.
“I’m feeling bad that I was not able to succeed in the end and I am lying down to relax this business that my father and I have worked so hard in so many years.”
This report of Canadian Press was first published on August 17, 2025.
Daniel Johnson, Canadian Press
