There has been a notable drop in the amount of B.C. visitors to Bellingham, and it is leading to a measurable impact.
Based on some of the stories we’ve written about the feelings of Bellinghamsters towards B.C. residents and Canadians, they probably don’t miss us too much. However, according to Bellingham residents, there seems to be a notable decrease in traffic at some of the more popular places that B.C. residents tend to frequent.
It has even led to local business impacts in the Washington town of Blaine.
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Trader Joe’s and Costco are just a couple of hotspots visitors from B.C. like to hit up when heading to Bellingham. One Bellingham-based Redditor asked if folks felt it was quieter in the Washington town in recent weeks.
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Someone else said that in downtown, they’ve felt a shift.
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One Bellingham resident noticed the number of commercials on Vancouver radio stations encouraging folks to buy local and Canadian products, adding, “Apparently, they’re doing it.”
“Was able to find a parking spot at Costco. So, yeah,” one Redditor said.
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“TJs is much less busy. Each time I’m in there, I ask my checker, and they say that it’s been much quieter recently,” another Bellinghamster claimed.
The Bellinghamsters are on to something based on traffic data.
According to a real-time border dashboard from the Whatcom Council of Governments that shows southbound and northbound traffic, there’s been a notable drop in traffic at the Peace Arch Border Crossing compared to last year, particularly during the Family Day long weekend.
This reality has been brewing for a while ever since U.S. President Donald Trump began his war of words with Canada, including threats of tariffs and of turning Canada into the 51st State.
B.C. Premier David Eby initially vowed to respond to Trump’s threats fiercely. Since then, there’s been a steady rise in Canadian pride. According to a Bellingham news publication, Cascadia Daily, there has been a notable impact on the Washington economy.
Cascadia Daily reports that one Blaine cafe saw a 30% decrease in business. It also reports a sharp spike in Google Trend searches for “Canada-Made” and “Made in Canada.”
We’ve also heard directly from our readers who told us they’re changing their habits.
“My friends and I stopped our ‘butter’ runs to Costco. We love our sticks of butter, but Trump can keep them,” stated one Daily Hive Vancouver reader from Burnaby.
West Vancouver reader Bernd Schalke told Daily Hive that he’s “a retired Canadian who has enjoyed personal and business travel to the USA since forever.”
“But now I am totally bummed out by their outrageous federal government headed by the Orange Crush. America is no longer a welcoming place for Canadians — they don’t give a rat’s a** about us, so I and my wife will no longer travel down there or buy any of their goods. As for Canada joining the USA, not in a million years.”
It doesn’t seem personal, though. Based on sentiments expressed by Bellingham residents on social media, they’re not the ones with a problem with Canadians. Some have even expressed missing Canadians.
Canadians in the BuyCanadian subreddit want the drop in traffic to diminish even further.
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The political factors, combined with a weak Canadian dollar, make it no surprise that there is less traffic from B.C. to Bellingham.
With files from Simran Singh