How an Osoyoos duty-free shop owner is helping BC's economy during Trump's trade war

While Canadians have recently become focussed on sourcing local products and supporting local businesses in the wake of American President Donald Trump’s trade war, Cameron Bissonnette has been doing that for decades. His family has been operating the Osoyoos Duty Free Shop at the Osoyoos border crossing since 1986 and he took over operation almost a decade ago. “It’s a long time to have it in the family, but there are other duty free shops run by people just like me, second generation or sometimes third generations now," Bissonnette told iNFOnews.ca. “We kind of look at ourselves as ambassadors to people leaving the country. We’re that last touch point and want to make sure they’re having a great experience.” Over the years, Bissonnette has talked with countless travellers from all over the world and taken a key role in promoting B.C. products. His shop sells unique, locally sourced products and allows Canadian travellers to keep their hard-earned dollars in the local economy. “It’s a nice store to work in because everyone is in a good mood whether they’re Canadians just starting their vacation or they’re Americans who had a wonderful trip to Banff, Jasper or the Okanagan," he said. “You always have the opportunity to chat to people, ask where they’re from and where they went, there are some good stories out there.” Canadians heading south can stop at the shop for currency exchange and travel information, and to load up on duty-free, tax-free alcohol and some tobacco products as long as it’s for personal use. The costs are lower than what is found at other retailers and there are products like local award-winning wines that can’t be found across the border. “Our biggest category is booze, it’s about 80% of our business, there are significant savings on those products,” Bissonnette said. “You probably save 60% buying products in the store compared to buying them domestically in Washington state.” Everything is for immediate exportation to the U.S., and only for personal consumption, under the duty-free allowances the government has in place. The deals at land border duty-free are better than the ones you find at airports. “Airport duty free stores have to pay extremely high rents to the airport authorities, it’s difficult for them to pass those savings on to customers, where the independent land border stores are mostly family businesses," Bissonnette said. While he enjoys the job, there have been tough times over the years. The current trade war, the COVID-19 pandemic and the fluctuating Canadian dollar are a few of the challenges he has had to navigate. Currently, fewer Canadian residents are travelling to the U.S. https://infotel.ca/inwheels/kamloops-residents-cancel-us-travel-plans-amidst-trade-war/it108446 in response to the trade war and a weak loonie.  In February, there was a 13.1 per cent drop in the number of Canadians flying back from trips to the U.S. and a 23% drop in residents driving back compared to the same time last year, according to Statistics Canada https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/250310/dq250310d-eng.htm . Bissonnette said the decrease in Canadian traffic is dramatic, however there is still a steady flow of Americans coming north to BC destinations. His shop only carries BC wines and all the alcoholic products are purchased through the BC LDB tax free, with some products being affected by the trade war. https://infotel.ca/inwine/okanagan-distillers-quenching-thirst-for-bourbon-during-trade-war-with-us/it108435 “We’re looking closer at importing from some of the BC Craft distilleries because we want to make sure we have proudly-made BC beer, spirits and wine on our shelves,” he said. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bissonnette said some Canadians couldn’t access their properties south of the border and decided to sell them, so travel patterns went from north to south, to east to west. “It's very challenging for a business that relies on cross border traffic,” he said. “The border was basically closed for almost two years during COVID-19.” Further back in 2006, the government cancelled a GST rebate program that allowed international travellers to get their tax back on their accommodations and any goods they purchased to take home with them. “That hurt because a lot of people valued that and the money they’d get back, they’d spend in our stores.”  Following the Sept. 11 al-Quaeda attacks in 2001, the U.S. mandated American citizens to have passports to cross the border, which slowed down traffic coming from the states. There have also been significant swings in the purchasing power of the Canadian dollar over the years that impacts traffic flow. “When the dollar drops down, it can dry things up, and we don’t get that many more Americans coming up to offset the loss, but that’s a challenge in any business,” Bissonnette said.  Canada and U.S. share 140 border crossings, and only 27 of them offer duty free shopping. In 1986, the Canadian government started a pilot project with Canadian duty-free stores at land borders to promote tourism and support local economies. There had been U.S. duty-free stores on the American side for years. “The Canadian government realized there was a loss of tax dollars, where people were crossing and not leaving their money in Canada,” Bissonnette said. “Duty free stores was a great way to repatriate some of those dollars.” Bissonnette’s parents were successful in aquiring two licenses back in the 80s, one for the store in Osoyoos and another at the Kingsgate crossing southwest of Cranbrook which he also operates. He finished going to school for marketing at Okanagan University College in Kelowna and started working with the family in 1993. In 2008, he bought out the existing family shares. Osoyoos Duty Free Shop is located on Highway 97 https://www.osoyoosdutyfree.com/ at the Osoyoos/Oroville border crossing. To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie mailto:sainslie@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . 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