A decide is ordering the duty-free store at Canada’s second-busiest border crossing into receivership because it struggles to repay hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in debt and overdue hire.
In a ruling earlier this month, the Ontario Superior Courtroom of Justice appointed a receiver for the Peace Bridge duty-free store who’s empowered to take management of the property, oversee liquidation and repay collectors.
In keeping with a declare filed by Royal Financial institution of Canada within the Ontario Courtroom of Attraction in January, Peace Bridge Obligation Free Inc. is the tenant of the duty-free store on the Ontario aspect of the Peace Bridge on the border between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York. The owner is the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority. Peace Bridge has operated the retail duty-free retailer for greater than three many years. In regular occasions, the shop was open 24 hours a day, every single day, and employed about 90 workers.
The present lease, dated July 28, 2016, ends in October 2031. It requires Peace Bridge to pay hire, which is comprised of base hire and share hire, and to pay any relevant gross sales taxes, property taxes, working prices, and utilities. The minimal annual base hire is $4 million or $333,333 per thirty days, the court docket doc exhibits.
Landlord says tenant owes as much as $17M
The Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority claims the shop owes it as much as $17 million in unpaid hire going again years, whereas Royal Financial institution of Canada says $3.3 million in debt is excellent.
The Niagara Area retailer says it owes much less, however the complete nonetheless sits within the hundreds of thousands.
CBC Information has reached out to the shop for remark.
Persevering with to function for now, the shop’s monetary troubles come as duty-free outlets throughout the nation undergo from plunging gross sales amid a pointy downturn in cross-border visits by Canadians in addition to Individuals.
The variety of cross-border travellers going from Canada to the U.S. dropped by nearly 900,000 in March in comparison with the identical month final 12 months, in response to the newest U.S. Customs and Border Safety (CBP) knowledge — simply one of many worst year-over-year drops recorded exterior of the COVID-19 well being disaster.
The border figures present 4,105,516 travellers crossed the U.S. northern border in March of this 12 months, down from 4,970,360 individuals who did the identical in 2024 — a roughly 17 per cent decline that observers say is basically pushed by President Donald Trump’s commerce conflict, 51st state taunts and Canada-bashing.
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