Business - Business News

POSTED: Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009

Border town retailers keep Olympics expectations in check

With the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., just four months away, Whatcom County's two northernmost towns are expecting to see plenty of people making their way through the border crossing. Merchants are unsure, however, whether that will translate into gold for local coffers.

Blaine and Sumas will be the last stop for many Olympic visitors traveling to Canada from the U.S., but at this point retailers and innkeepers are keeping expectations in check, unsure as to whether visitors will pull off the freeway to do some shopping, stay the night or even use the restroom.

"I think (business owners) are being extremely cautious when it comes to preparing for the Olympics," said Bob Boule, owner of Smuggler's Inn Bed & Breakfast and vice president of the Blaine Chamber of Commerce. "We've had businesses closing in Blaine; there are many that want to make sure they get through the winter first."

Sumas isn't expecting to see many Olympic visitors unless the border waits at the Blaine and Lynden crossings become unreasonably long, said Bob Bromley, Sumas' mayor and owner of Bromley's Market. The uptick in traffic during the Olympics could come from Canadians fleeing the crowds to do some skiing at Mount Baker, he said.

"We're as ready as we'll ever be, but I don't think we'll be seeing much more business," Bromley said.

So far, there hasn't been a huge rush when it comes to lodging. Boule, who has a Victorian-style facility right on the border that sleeps 88 people, said he's had several cancelations because people are having trouble getting tickets. Not all the tickets have sold out, but the good seats for the popular sports on the weekends are hard to find.

"For the ones that are coming to visit, many of them can only afford to do one or two days," Boule said.

In Blaine, one of the challenges right now is getting signs up on Interstate 5 letting visitors know about the businesses that are open, said Marv Adams, owner of the Blaine Pizza Factory. He said the community has been working with the Washington Department of Transportation to try to get signs up before the Olympics begin.

"The southbound lanes (for travelers returning into the U.S.) are especially tough, because travelers only have a few hundred feet after passing customs before they hit the only exit to downtown Blaine," Adams said.

Information has been sent to Blaine about the blue-and-white signs that show what businesses are available, but the DOT hasn't received the information back yet, said Dustin Terpening, spokesman for the agency.

"If businesses in Blaine are interested, we need to get the information in soon in order to get the signs up before the Olympics," Terpening said.

UP-AND-DOWN YEAR FOR RETAIL

So far 2009 seems to be a sporadic year when it comes to sales in the northern border towns. In the first quarter of 2009, year-over-year taxable retail sales were down 15 percent in Blaine and down 23.7 percent in Sumas, according to the Washington Department of Revenue. In the second quarter, Blaine's total retail sales were up 6.9 percent, while Sumas was down 20.5 percent. Sumas did see a 14.8 percent rise in retail trade for the second quarter, however. Retail trade is a subset of total retail sales, focusing on store sales.

More recent numbers haven't been released yet, but Adams and Boule said the summer and fall would have a very busy period followed by a very quiet one.

"It's difficult to run a business when it is crazy one day and quiet the next, especially when it comes to staffing and inventory," Adams said. "It was very hard to predict; we had some Canadian holidays that were very quiet."

During this period Blaine also has seen businesses shut down, most notably Goff's Department Store in the downtown retail district.

"I'm normally an upbeat person and there are some positive things happening, but it is tough right now," Boule said.

For Sumas, its retail component has never seemed to recover from the fallout over the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks eight years ago. Before then, it was relatively easy for Canadians to drop into Sumas for lunch or to fill up cars with less expensive gasoline. At one point in the 1990s, there were nine gas stations, Bromley said, but now there are only three active stations.

The southbound border crossing numbers show how significant the drop-off was. In 1991, there were about 2.3 million southbound crossings at the Sumas border station. In 2008 there were 697,000 southbound crossings, according to data collected by Western Washington University's Center for Economics and Business Research.

"It was being able to get across the border in a timely manner that was the difference. Once that changed, it was not worth staying open for many businesses," Bromley said.

In the trimmed-down retail market that saw a tough first half of the year, Bromley said it's starting to turn around.

"There was a time where we were in a holding pattern; everyone was more cautious," Bromley said. "Now it seems people are getting more positive when it comes to spending."