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border sales soar with loonie
"The dollar. That's pretty much it. And we have a long weekend available," said Katsavos, 36, a medical lab technologist from King City. She and five friends rented hotel rooms for one night in Buffalo to take advantage of the long weekend, summer sales and strong Canadian dollar. are up, thanks in part to the lofty loonie. The dollar closed Friday at 94.83 cents. Six years ago it stood at 62.76 cents, making crossborder shopping and travel unappealing to the budgetminded. border malls on the weekend, snapping up housewares and summer clothes at 70 per cent off and backtoschool merchandise they can't find in Canada. were stuck in a traffic jam more than a kilometre long. Inside, GTA shoppers congratulated themselves on their finds."I know it's not good for Canada, but it's good for shopping," said Bryan Hammond, of Ajax, shopping at Walden with his wife and two sons,[url=http://www.floware.fr]sac michael kors[/url], Ryan, 24, and Rob, 20. Bryan was happy to have found an elusive pair of navy snakeskin shoes.The lead singer and bassist in a band called Addison Drive, Ryan and Rob like the fact they can buy clothes in Buffalo that look distinctive in Toronto."It's better, when you're on stage you don't want to look like everyone else in the crowd," said Ryan.Jay and Tanya Onishenko, of Woodstock, celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary with a shopping trip to Buffalo on the weekend. They rented a hotel room across from the Walden Galleria and on Sunday drove half an hour to the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls to hunt for bargains. Tanya's mission: backtoschool clothes for their children, ages 8 and 4. Jay's mission: "To keep my wife happy." But he seemed pleased to have scooped up seven men's shirts on sale."There's definitely some good deals here. It's hard to stay within your (exemption) limit going across the border," said Jay, 33.Dianne Giliforte, tourism director for Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls, said business at the mall this weekend exceeded all expectations. It was even up over the same weekend last year. "In a word, extraordinary," said Giliforte.Retailers report that, in the past couple of months, 60 to 70 per cent of their business has been from Canadian shoppers, she said.The resurgence of interest in crossborder shopping convinced the mall operators, who took over in November 2005 and renovated and added stores, to launch a shuttle service to bring visitors at hotels in Canada across the border to shop.At the height of business on Sunday, patrons at Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls were lined up at every outlet in the food court, in front of store changing rooms and at cash registers at stores like Coach, GAP and Geoffrey Beene. They lined up 20deep to buy housewares at a closing sale at Pfaltzgraff. on Sunday, one of the few things left to buy there was an iron tealight holder in the shape of a miniature rooster, at 70 per cent off $19.99.GAP jeans were 30 per cent off $40; at Saks Fifth Avenue's Off 5th, M. Kors leather jackets for women were reduced to $200 from $350; Calvin Klein men's coats were half price. Geoffrey Beene was selling Tshirts for $6.99.Paterno Macandog of Scarborough, who visits Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in Lewiston with his family twice a year and stops at the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls as part of the trip, came equipped this weekend with a walkietalkie to keep in touch with his wife and two children as they shopped. "I have a cellphone, but this is cheaper," he said of the walkietalkie, which has a threekilometre range. to shop. Buffalo tourism officials are heartened by the trend, but would like to find a way to bring more of those shoppers into the downtown area."Without a doubt there has been a surge over the past year," said Ed Healy, director of communications for the Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitors Bureau."The sense we've gotten is people know their route to the Walden Galleria, they do their shopping there and they get back in the car and they head back home. The impact could be that much greater if we could let these shoppers know that there's a worldclass art gallery in Buffalo, there's some great architecture, beautiful neighbourhoods."Those things may be true. But getting 16 water glasses for $10 at the Pfaltzgraff closing sale is reason enough for Angela Escobar, 44, of Oakville, to keep coming back."You get better prices here. I never get the quality of clothes you get here Even if you have to pay taxes (at the border), it's cheaper," she said, referring to the sometimes dreaded declaration at the border. If a shopper spends more than the exempted $50 Cdn. for a 24hour stay or $400 for a 48hour stay, PST, GST and duty taxes may apply.