The mall of British Columbia aka "Bellingham"

**powder11** · 10-14-2012, 10:23 AM

So I needed some new snow tires for my truck and decided to join the shit show that is Bellingham on a weekend. Pretty much BC plates as far as the eye can see. Gridlock traffic anywhere near a strip mall or big box store. Stores crammed full of Canuks salavating over the cut rate prices and lower tax in comparison. I also found some of those stereotypes ringing true.

Sitting in a hudge line up at some cheap gas place ($3.92/gal!) with my fellow BC'ers, there was an asian dude filling up at least five 5 gallon jerry jugs INSIDE his minivan (BC plates) while his kids played in the back row. Yes, he was filling up jerry jugs full of gasoline inside his vehicle while his children played right beside. I was waiting for him to pull out a cigarette and light it up. WTF!? is wrong with some people?

While waiting at Discount Tire, I overheard the manager bragging about selling $50k worth of tires in that day alone. All the plates on the cars in the bays were BC. As I was leaving, they asked for my email to keep me informed about some big super store they were going to build off I5 closer to the border.

I even found myself getting caught up in the virtual bargain prices that you just don't see in the great white north. From Fred Meyer to Costco, I bought up hundreds of dollars in winter clothes for the kids to a few years supply of TP/laundry soap/cheerios and enough halloween candy to completely rot out the teeth of my entire family. I even contributed to Bellingham's milk shortage and bought 10 gallons myself. While that may seem like a lot to you, it's merely a two week supply for my twin 2yr old boys.

You could tell the Canuks apart from the Americans because they were smiling while the poor Bellinghamites were scowling at the throngs of people gloating over price tags. "hey Gord, look how cheap this is, eh!?" rang throughout the stores. Although this bonanza has to be nothing but good news for the Bellingham economy, I can see how pissed off locals would be about the invasion from the north. Rightfully so...

As I was approaching the border to drag my loot across, I started to panic at the hudge line up of vehicles. The good news was that they had all 12 booths open and were practically just passing people through. One would have to have had a beer in hand with a lit joint hanging from their lip to even catch the eye of the booth attendant. I guess they're not too worried about folks with windows blocked out from pallets of Charmin and Pampers. The whole scene looked like a caravan of middle class refugees that had just looted a Walmart. As I sat there waiting to be passed through, I tallyed up the amount of crap I bought and calculated my savings. Even if I paid myself $50 an hour for the extra time and compensated for gas money, I still saved hundreds of dollars. It's that insane.

Ironicly, Global BC had a story on this morning's news about how BC'ers should shop locally instead of heading down to the states. Some NDP union douche was griping about how it was hurting the economy. No, dickhead, the only thing hurting our economy is the ridiculous taxes, to subsidize union douches, on pretty much everything but the air we breath. Hopefully, the good folks in Bellingham see enough of a bump in their economy to make all this bullshit worth their while. Enjoy it while it's there because as soon as the US dollars floats back up above par, the invasion of the Canuk shoppers will be over.

**wicked_sick** · 10-14-2012, 10:27 AM

Tires are way cheaper down there that's for damn sure.

**powder11** · 10-14-2012, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by wicked_sick

Tires are way cheaper down there that's for damn sure.

yep, I saved $500 alone on a set of Goodyear Duratracs.

**Hott Butt Mud** · 10-14-2012, 10:39 AM

Dang, I had no idea. You do make it sound like a bunch of Middle-Class Refugees. Good way to put it.

How long ago was it that Americans would go to Canada and freak out about how everything was cheaper there?

**Ted Striker** · 10-14-2012, 11:08 AM

Originally Posted by powder11

Sitting in a hudge line up at some cheap gas place ($3.92/gal!) with my fellow BC'ers, there was an asian dude filling up at least five 5 gallon jerry jugs INSIDE his minivan (BC plates) while his kids played in the back row. Yes, he was filling up jerry jugs full of gasoline inside his vehicle while his children played right beside. I was waiting for him to pull out a cigarette and light it up. WTF!? is wrong with some people?

^^^ vvv

Originally Posted by pisteoff

How about this... a while back I saw a guy in a minivan with BC plates roll up, open the back and fill four plastic 5 gallon gas cans. A minivan. No trunk. Twenty gallons of gasoline inside, with his wife and three kids. And he's got to drive at least 20 miles on the freeway to get home. WTF?!

Apparently, it happens all the time. And when I posted that, people here acted like that wasn't dangerous, or implied that I was being overly cautious

FWIW I don't give a fuck about how stupid people want to be, but when it comes to the safety of kids, that's a different story.

**Ted Striker** · 10-14-2012, 11:29 AM

The thing about BC plates in this town is that you hardly ever see them on the southwest side of the freeway (except for at Trader Joe's), so if you never go to the big box hell neighborhood, you'd never even know about the x-border shopping spree.

If people want to bolster the coffers of this city/county/state more power to 'em - regardless of where they're from.

**jfost** · 10-14-2012, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by Hott Butt Mud

...How long ago was it that Americans would go to Canada and freak out about how everything was cheaper there?

bought a lift ticket to Silverstar in 1995 with a US $100 and got my ticket and $104.52CDN or something like that in change!!!

**f2f** · 10-14-2012, 01:31 PM

powder11, they didn't make you pay get/pst at the border on the way back? the us shoppers here in AB just give them a handful of receipts and the border patrol calculates gst on everything.

**freshie247** · 10-14-2012, 01:55 PM

Yeah I would've thought the GWN gubment would be assesing import taxes.They do if you carry stuff on a plane.

**belgian** · 10-14-2012, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by pisteoff

The thing about BC plates in this town is that you hardly ever see them on the southeast side of the freeway (except for at Trader Joe's), so if you never go to the big box hell neighborhood, you'd never even know about the x-border shopping spree.

If people want to bolster the coffers of this city/county/state more power to 'em - regardless of where they're from.

This. Even the lakeway Fred Meyer is relatively tame. Get to downtown or Fairhaven and you only see a few BC plates even on the weekends.

Would be nice if there were more support for the local businesses over Costco and Fred Meyer but I don't have many complaints. Their cheapness has built us many nice things of late. Unless I need to go anywhere near the mall for some reason.

**powder11** · 10-14-2012, 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by f2f

powder11, they didn't make you pay get/pst at the border on the way back? the us shoppers here in AB just give them a handful of receipts and the border patrol calculates gst on everything.

nope. I'm sure if they knew I had bought $1k worth of new tires, it would be a different story, but they didn't ask for receipts. Just looked in the bed, saw a bunch of diapers, toilet paper and other costco sized items and told me to have a nice day.

**jfost** · 10-14-2012, 03:02 PM

Costco is about as local as it gets for WA state, unless you mean there is an independent shop that stocks huge crates of TP?!?

**johngenx** · 10-14-2012, 03:45 PM

The missus and I spent a week in Montana this summer, not to shop, but just to go. We checked out some box stores and outlet shopping, and other than tires and select shoes, prices weren't really all that much lower than in Canuckistan.

**belgian** · 10-14-2012, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by jfost

Costco is about as local as it gets for WA state, unless you mean there is an independent shop that stocks huge crates of TP?!?

There are two large, local grocery store chains based in bham that do not get the traffic Fred Meyer sees. Obviously no substitute for the bulk buys at Costco.

Either way though they keep the town employed and funded.

**Ted Striker** · 10-14-2012, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by belgian

Get to downtown or Fairhaven and you only see a few BC plates even on the weekends.

I hadn't had enough coffee when I wrote that, because I meant to say southwest, i.e. downtown. The very few BC plates I see around my place are generally people who are lost trying to find Trader Joe's. If more Canadians ventured downtown it would certainly help the local restaurant scene which has been hurting lately.

**jamesp** · 10-14-2012, 06:52 PM

If Canuks went to actual restaurants in Bham then you'd all be whinging that we don't tip enough

**belgian** · 10-14-2012, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by pisteoff

I hadn't had enough coffee when I wrote that, because I meant to say southwest, i.e. downtown. The very few BC plates I see around my place are generally people who are lost trying to find Trader Joe's. If more Canadians ventured downtown it would certainly help the local restaurant scene which has been hurting lately.

Unfortunately they can't resist the neon orange pizza grease at Boston pizza by the mall.

**farmer** · 10-14-2012, 09:22 PM

As a Canuck et-pat, who used to shop in Bellingham a lot, I now laugh at WA prices and tax.

I love MontanaMerica.

And when I do pass through Bellingham on my way to Van, I do eat downtown. Mostly to avoid Canadians, eh.

**powder11** · 10-15-2012, 08:02 AM

Originally Posted by johngenx

The missus and I spent a week in Montana this summer, not to shop, but just to go. We checked out some box stores and outlet shopping, and other than tires and select shoes, prices weren't really all that much lower than in Canuckistan.

You forgot anything dairy. Kind of hard to grab on a trip, but when you're on a shopping mission armed with a couple coolers, you can score enough dairy to make it almost free compared to Canada prices on cheese, milk and eggs. Mind you, it's a must to have an extra fridge back home to store all the loot, but when you have toddlers who eat pretty much nothing but cheese and milk, it saves a ton of dough. I also live in Whistler where they jack prices just to fleece the tourists as much as possible.

I wouldn't mind checking out the rest of Bellingham, but usually so stressed out by the time I get out of retail hell, I just want to hit the road home. What are some good eats that I should hit on my next trip?

**bptempleton** · 10-15-2012, 11:16 AM

Cool blog, bro. (actually)

**XXX-er** · 10-15-2012, 11:39 AM

you know whats even cheaper?

not buying any of that shit

**DougW** · 10-15-2012, 12:07 PM

Originally Posted by XXX-er

you know whats even cheaper?

not buying any of that shit

you don't like cheese??

**XXX-er** · 10-15-2012, 01:10 PM

I like good hard cheese from europe not that orange shit that comes from plastic cows

Other than the "Telkwa mall" which is 15kms out of town in telkwa we got no mall up here so there is no where for the kids to hang out so they stroll main street instead and there is no where to buy shit except in small local stores on main street

in fact nobody wants a mall or Walmart to fuck up a vibrant very sucessful small town BC main street so everyone thinks walmart should build out at the Telkwa Mall

**Mofro261** · 10-15-2012, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by Hott Butt Mud

How long ago was it that Americans would go to Canada and freak out about how everything was cheaper there?

I'd say maybe back ~2003-4 when the exchange was as high 1.45 on the US dollar. Even then though, Canadian gas and beer weren't cheap, but lodging and lift tix were sweet.

Now it's what 0.97-0.98? Ouch.

**jfost** · 10-15-2012, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by belgian

There are two large, local grocery store chains based in bham that do not get the traffic Fred Meyer sees. Obviously no substitute for the bulk buys at Costco.

Either way though they keep the town employed and funded.

Hagen's? or Haggen's??? That's the awesome store we always hit on the way up to WB. Their take&bake pizza rules...