Sarah Mills: Canadians travelling to the U.S. are down dramatically
Sarah Mills says Mexico and Europe became a destination for Canadians in January, showing the elbows-up approach is havi...
The federal government’s GST holiday will officially come to an end on Saturday.
The cancellation of the GST for two months was put in place on Dec. 14 and was intended to save Canadians money over the holiday season on toys, groceries, books and some alcohol.
When it was announced, some businesses were hopeful it would help boost business.
Tracy Bosche, the owner of Zippity Zoom Toys in Regina, said she doesn’t feel like the extra savings brought in extra customers.
“I don’t think people looked at it that way. I think it’s different when you let’s say receive a couple hundred dollars in your bank account. Nobody is taking their change out of their pocket and putting it together and at the end of the week going out shopping. That’s not how it works,” Bosche said.
“We had people that came in before it happened and they’re like, ‘So if I came in on the first day, how much would I save?’ We looked at it and it was $3 and she’s like, ‘I am not driving back here for $3.’ It’s not worth it for a lot of people.”
Bosche said she won’t miss the GST holiday.
“I can’t even say it’s going to be missed by customers,” she said. “I can’t say I had one person ask about it over the whole holidays.”
Going forward, Bosche said what’s going to drive people to her store will be the state of the economy.
“I don’t think the government’s going to help me by doing something like this if that’s the situation,” she said. “I think if you have to help people, you have to help certain people individually. Unfortunately, I think that’s the way it hits home for most people.”
According to the survey company Proof Strategies, data it collected from the same period last year didn’t indicate a significant year-over-year increase in growth.
The company found transaction levels were slightly up year-over-year in Saskatchewan from the same period last year.
Saskatchewan was the only province that saw a slight increase during the GST holiday of two per cent.
Across Canada, the tax also didn’t drive consumer demand, but some retail categories saw modest growth – children’s clothing stores saw the largest growth at eight per cent.
When it comes to restaurants, those didn’t see a spike either. Restaurants actually saw a six per cent drop in transactions, while fast-food establishments were down only slightly.
