As residents of Sault Ste. Marie Canada sit back and enjoy the Civic Holiday - similar to Victoria Day, Canada Day, the Civic Holiday in August and Christmas, residents across the river in the Michigan Sault don't get the day off and treat the day as a regular day. Local 2 video journalist Mike Caruso makes his observations regarding the Boxing Day issue.
Are Canadian shops losing out on thousands of dollars in business by being closed?
The Other Side of the Boxing Day Shopping Issue
I took time to go around all the major stores on the Sault Ontario side and every one of them was deserted, as you might well expect. Yes, the business people saved on employment and hydro costs, and yes the employees got the day off to spend with their families. Was it a gain or a loss for everyone? The businesses, in my opinion, lost a lot of money to the Michigan Sault because the shoppers don’t have that money to spend here. The employees that could have used the money earned on Boxing Day, have to do without. Not all employees want the day off. That extra pay could have gone towards food, rent, utilities, etc, etc., etc.
Bridge traffic heading into the U.S. as of Monday afternoon. Not a huge difference from regular daily traffic.
Credit: International Bridge Authority
I also took the time to go across the river and found that the WalMart had just as many Ontario licence plates as Michigan, if not more. And don’t question whether I went up and down the rows, yes I did.
Casinos were the only difference. Ours had a lot of cars while Kewadin wasn’t very busy at all.
One note of interest: While I was at Canadian Tire, I stopped to talk to a couple of people that went up to the doors and they asked me if the store was going to open. They were from out of town and did want to spend their money here, on “BOXING DAY.”
