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Photo / Fred Field
Houlton businesses have grappled with border restrictions, which have cut off the normal flow of shoppers from New Brunswick.
Seven years ago, Mike Folsom started Shiretown Packaging and Receiving in Houlton to serve Canadians.
Folsom receives goods ordered by Canadians from American websites. Located just over a mile from the U.S.-Canada border, in a typical summer he sees five or six Canadian customers per day picking up their goods. For Canadians, the short drive means they can bypass certain Canadian taxes and fees on online orders that are higher than what they pay Folsom for warehousing.
Since border restrictions were implemented on March 18, all of that business evaporated. Folsom has so far lost as much as $25,000. His warehouse is packed with goods biding time.
“It has almost ruined my business,” he says. “I deal with Canadians. My business is all Canadians. I have no Canadians.”
Pandemic-related border restrictions between the U.S. and Canada eliminated non-essential travel between the two countries. In Houlton, Maine’s largest border port, the difference is noticeable.
“We miss our Canadian friends,” says Jane Torres, who is president of downtown Houlton’s County Co-Op and Farm Store, as well as executive director of the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce. “They make up about a third of our business. There are certain things we’ve ordered for years for them, and they’re not there to buy it.”
The port of entry in Houlton is at the end of Interstate 95 and the start of the Canadian highway system. Traffic volume at the entry port ranks in the top 25% of all crossings between the two countries, according to ezbordercrossing.com.
Border restrictions were originally scheduled to end July 21, but were extended to at least Aug. 21 and are likely to be extended into the fall.
Essential travel is limited to medical, emergency, military and certain educational, work-related and trade purposes. It’s the ban on non-essential travel — for shopping, picking up orders, visiting friends and family and recreation — that has put a crimp on international spending.
Typically, Canadians would come to Houlton to make a day of it. They’d go to Marden’s. On a Saturday afternoon, half of the discount store’s parking lot is could be Canadian license plates.
“There are people from Woodstock, just 15 minutes away, who would come over two or three times a week,” says Folsom.
Gas and some goods like poultry and milk are cheaper in the U.S.
“They gas up their cars and buy frozen turkeys in droves,” says Torres. “They’re bargain hunters. And you’d see the same people every week.”
At the co-op, Canadian visitors enjoy buying certain kinds of candy and honey, as well as Maine-grown meats, Torres adds.
“We weren’t really aware of how much they impacted us until they were gone,” she says.
In February, 13,596 personal vehicles crossed the border into Houlton, says Robert Clark, executive director of the Northern Maine Development Commission in Caribou.
In May, that number was 679. Those were vehicles driven by essential workers.
“It’s a significant downturn of economic activity,” Clark says.
Truck traffic is largely steady. In March, 7,786 trucks crossed into Houlton; 7,306 crossed in May.
“So freight is moving pretty freely,” Clark says.
Grocery and retail stores are feeling the impact, says Jon McLaughlin, executive director of the Southern Aroostook Development Corp. in Houlton.
Canadian traffic is “very important, not just for Houlton but also for all the border towns in Aroostook County,” says McLaughlin. “A lot of Canadians come for gas. They buy a lot from the grocery stores and retail operations.”
Houlton is also an important hub for tourists, including Canadians heading to southern Maine and beyond, and out-of-state U.S. residents heading to northern Maine’s recreation areas or to Canada. Maine Tourism Association’s visitor information center in Houlton sees as many as 200 visitors per day during a typical summer, says the center’s manager, Cathy Hogan.
It’s an even split between Canadians and Americans. Many of the Canadians are heading to Maine to shop — some to Bangor and others to Kittery or Freeport. In the winter, many Canadians stop on their way to Florida.
This summer, the visitor center is seeing fewer than 50 customers and most are Mainers, says Hogan.
“It’s slower but I’m still doing business,” says Sally Nickel, co-owner of My Brother’s Place Campground in Houlton.
Elsewhere in Houlton, Andy’s IGA Foodliner has seen a 15% decrease in business, says owner Andrew Marin.
“That’s substantial,” he says, adding that an increase in online shopping, which he implemented a couple of years ago, has helped make up for losses.
“We’ve certainly noticed an impact from the lack of commuting and border traffic, whether it’s going into Canada or Canadian citizens coming across,” says Carter Vaillancourt, chief operating officer for Daigle Oil Co., which owns gas stations. “Most of our stations are pretty close to the border and there are a few, including Houlton, that have been more impacted than others” by border restrictions.
Daigle has experienced both revenue and volume losses.
“We don’t have specific percentages,” he says. “But a large part of that we attribute to the lack of traffic traveling back and forth across the border.”
Canadians made up about a tenth of the clientele of a downtown Houlton tearoom called Treasures of the Heart, which opened last September.
“There’s a good contingent we haven’t seen,” says owner Melissa Nataluk. “There was one lady I thought lived locally, who was one of our best supporters.” Nataluk sent the customer a Facebook message and discovered she lives in Woodstock. “I said, ‘Why haven’t I seen you? Are you okay?’ She said, ‘I’m fine. I just can’t cross the border.’”
Despite border restrictions and other pandemic-related concerns, Houlton businesses are generally holding on, says McLaughlin, of Southern Aroostook Development Corp.
“It’s not our death knell by any means, but it’s a loss,” he says.
Early in the pandemic, the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce, Southern Aroostook Development Corp. and town of Houlton created the Houlton Stimulus Package to help struggling businesses. In under two weeks, the project raised $54,000 in private donations as a match to gift certificates bought by customers from local businesses. Customers took part in a drive-through and phone-in event on April 30 to buy certificates. The match was spoken for in less than an hour, creating an overall benefit of $108,000.
Houlton homes are flying off the shelf to out-of-state buyers. Days-on-market and inventory are shrinking.
“I’m seeing more out-of-staters, but also people from Downeast moving up,” says Scot Walker, owner of Houlton’s First Choice Real Estate. “There are more people interested in getting out of more-populated places and coming to rural areas.”
Sales are up 38% at Houlton’s Mooers Realty.
“When COVID happened, suddenly you didn’t get as many new listings,” says owner Andrew Mooers. “People said, ‘We’re not going to make any big moves.’ They either pulled their listing or didn’t list at all, so there was shortage of inventory. That created pressure. Suddenly, things that were on the market for a while flew off the shelf.”
Reasons for buying? Perceived safety from the coronavirus, geographic space, excellent broadband access for remote work, cheaper prices. Houlton’s average house price is $71,000, compared with Portland’s $221,000 for the same square-footage, says Southern Aroostook Development Corp.’s Jon McLaughlin.
“We always complain about our geography, that it’s hard to attract business,” McLaughlin says. But with the pandemic, “This is the first time being rural is in our favor. People want to come to a rural area.”
During the pandemic, Houlton’s Tiny Homes of Maine orders have doubled, and the small, custom houses — under 400 square feet and built on a trailer — are being used in new ways.
The company is hearing from customers who are losing their homes and need a place to live quickly; or their job situation is changing and they can’t afford their homes. Others want alternative workspaces, like a mobile dental unit, says founder Corinne Watson.
Many residential orders are from people moving to Maine — leaving pandemic hotspots and working remotely. Some plan to park on friend or family property. Others are buying land. The company is building a larger facility and growing its workforce.
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