‘NOT LIKE IT USED TO BE’

Buffalo wonders when Canuck friends will return

You’ll still see Tim Hortons locations sitting on a street corner and Labatt Blue is still one of the most popular beers in this part of New York.

One thing you see less of driving across Western New York in Niagara Falls and Buffalo is Ontario license plates.

Canadians aren’t coming the way they used to and the locals are noticing.

“It’s not like it used to be,” Nicole said as she slung coffee, bacon and eggs at Mom’s Diner on Military Rd. in Niagara Falls. “We used to get a ton , we don’t anymore.”

Down the street at Walmart, the back to school T-shirts start $3.98 US, jeans at $12.98 and school supplies are cheap and plentiful, but parents aren’t showing up like they used to. Even across the parking lot where Sam’s Club is selling gas for $1.04 Cdn per litre, there was one Ontario plate in line for gas.

At the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls, a mall built to effectively draw Canadians in with cheap prices – and where the Canadian flag still proudly flies – the familiar blue and white Ontario plate is no longer the near dominant sight it once was. Now, not all of this is due to Trump and tariffs, patterns have changed, and our dollar is weaker than it used to be.

Four years ago, the loonie traded at about .83 cents to the American dollar and between 2008 and 2011, was often at par or slightly higher than the greenback. Last Wednesday, a Canadian dollar was worth .72 cents of American currency.

Still, locals say things have shifted.

At a Trader Joe’s in Amherst, there are a few Canadian plates. As an American retailer that has yet to move into the Canadian market, Trader Joe’s has a small but devoted cult following in Canada.

“You Canadians love our store,” the cashier said as I was checking out. “But we don’t see as many of you as we used to.”

Sitting chatting over wings and a glass of Blue at the Anchor Bar around the corner, the bartender said there has been a real drop over the past six months or so.

“It’s not like it used to be,” Jackie said.

She’s hopeful with minor hockey tournaments starting up soon, plus NHL games from the Buffalo Sabres and NFL games with the Bills, things could pick up.

Southern Ontario is home to devoted Bills followers who love to cross over for home games in the fall and early winter months.

Driving down the QEW to the border, a large white SUV cruised ahead of me with Bills decals and an Ontario plate showing he was a true ‘Bill-lever” one of the nicknames Bills fans have given themselves.

Beyond the anecdotal, there are the stats.

So far this year, the Buffalo- Niagara region has seen 400,000 fewer Canadian visitors, a 15% drop year over year. According to Visit Buffalo Niagara, visits have been down every month this year compared to 2024, with April and May each showing about a 21% decline.

This past July, tourism officials were able to increase the number of visitors compared to June, but it was still lower than July 2024.