10/17/09: Canadian Dollar Nears Parity with US Greenbacks

The Canadian dollar or is gaining strength against the US dollar and the results are already being seen on this side of the border. Niagara County stores are reporting a surge of Ontario bargain hunters hitting up area stores.
“The prices here are cheaper than in Canada,’ said Ontario’s Laura Sparling. She often travels from Ontario to Niagara Falls to shop at the Fashion Outlets.
“Being so close to the border we have a very strong influx of Canadian shoppers,” said Fashion Outlets Niagara Falls Marketing Director Julie Clark.
Niagara Falls businesses are seeing more Canadian shoppers this weekend. The value of the US green back is decreasing as the Canadian dollar is nearing parity.
“The reason that the dollar is week is that it’s worth less. That is to say we’ve had inflation. We’re inflating the dollars. Our prices are going to go up,” said SUNY Buffalo Economist Lawrence Southwick.
The Canadian dollar advanced this year against 11 of the 16 most-traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg. This includes the pound and the Euro.
“If a lot of people are buying US goods, and they’re coming from Canada to the US. Than the US dollar will tend to rise,” Southwick added.
“We know right now that the dollar is very strong. For us to come down. And we know that there are a lot of deals here,” said Sparling patting her shopping bag.
Fashion Outlets Niagara Falls has undergone a transformation over the past two years. Outlet officials say they added 65 new designer stores here because of an increased demand primarily from Canadian Shoppers.
“We do have a lot of Torontonians. We’re seeing with the more stores and development that a lot of them are coming down on a more frequent basis,” added Clark.
She says Canadian customers enjoy the brand names and fashion savvy stores. The outlets added high end retailers DKNY, Escada, Coach and Burberry over the past two years to attract more northern bargain hunters. Clark says there are more than 150 brand name stores in the outlet mall.
But what about paying duty at the border on all those discounted goods? There are many abandoned shoe boxes and price tags in the trash cans around the outlet. Still this is no proof of Canadians trying to dodge paying duty on items at the rainbow and Peace Bridge.
“We find usually when we’re honest we don’t get stopped so we don’t end up paying duty anyway so it’s a big saving to come down here anyway,” said Sparling’s shopping buddy Julia Kerr of Ontario.