Peace Bridge duty-free shop goes into receivership as cross-border travel plummets

The Canadian Press

· Posted: Apr 28, 2025 4:08 PM EDT | Last Updated: 13 minutes ago

A justice is ordering the duty-free store astatine Canada's second-busiest borderline crossing into receivership arsenic it struggles to wage disconnected millions of dollars successful indebtedness and overdue rent.

In a ruling earlier this month, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice appointed a receiver for the Peace Bridge duty-free store who is empowered to instrumentality power of the assets, oversee liquidation and repay creditors.

According to a assertion filed by Royal Bank of Canada successful the Ontario Court of Appeal successful January, Peace Bridge Duty Free Inc. is the tenant of the duty-free store connected the Ontario broadside of the Peace Bridge astatine the borderline betwixt Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York. The landlord is the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority. Peace Bridge has operated the retail duty-free store for much than 3 decades. In mean times, the store was unfastened 24 hours a day, each day, and employed astir 90 staff.

The existent lease, dated July 28, 2016, ends successful October 2031. It requires Peace Bridge to wage rent, which is comprised of basal rent and percent rent, and to wage immoderate applicable income taxes, spot taxes, operating costs, and utilities. The minimum yearly basal rent is $4 cardinal oregon $333,333 per month, the tribunal papers shows.

Landlord says tenant owes up to $17M

The Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority claims the store owes it up to $17 cardinal successful unpaid rent going backmost years, portion Royal Bank of Canada says $3.3 cardinal successful indebtedness is outstanding.

The Niagara Region retailer says it owes less, but the full inactive sits successful the millions.

CBC News has reached retired to the store for comment.

Continuing to run for now, the store's fiscal troubles travel arsenic duty-free shops crossed the state endure from plunging income amid a crisp downturn successful cross-border visits by Canadians arsenic good arsenic Americans.

The fig of cross-border travellers going from Canada to the U.S. dropped by astir 900,000 successful March compared to the aforesaid period past year, according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) information — easy 1 of the worst year-over-year drops recorded extracurricular of the COVID-19 wellness crisis.

The border figures show 4,105,516 travellers crossed the U.S. bluish borderline successful March of this year, down from 4,970,360 radical who did the aforesaid successful 2024 — a astir 17 per cent diminution that observers accidental is mostly driven by President Donald Trump's commercialized war, 51st authorities taunts and Canada-bashing.