Canadians return for school shopping deals
Aug. 26—WATERTOWN — Jennifer L. Cooke and her two daughters drove more than three hours so they could do some school shopping at Target, Five Below, Ulta and some other stores they don't have in Canada where they live.
It was a trek they made every summer from their home north of Toronto before the novel coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020.
Mrs. Cooke and her daughters, Kennedy, 12, and Marley, 10, were happy to finally be back to the states to buy the brands, styles and other things they want and need before school starts up again.
"Just here to do some shopping across the border," Mrs. Cooke said. "We've just started."
Joined by the girls' grandmother, Sue Thompson, the family, who lives in Peterborough, came down Tuesday and planned to leave Thursday. They stayed in a hotel and ate in Watertown restaurants during their shopping excursion, in which Mrs. Cooke planned to spend more than $400 on T-shirts, jeans and other assorted clothing.
On Wednesday afternoon, they spent hours at the Salmon Run Mall scouring through clothing racks and bins to find some good deals that they can't get at home. The oldest girl hoped to find some sweaters for those cold Canadian winters.
"We don't have any of those stores in Canada," Mrs. Cooke said.
Driving 90 minutes into Watertown from Rennselaer Falls, Amber Yerden and her two daughters, Abigail, 13, and Jennica. 11, were just starting their shopping at the mall on Wednesday, too.
They were going to spend the afternoon in Watertown "for whatever I need, I guess." Asked what they wanted to get, her two daughters shrugged their shoulders and looked at their mother.
"I guess we'll be here for a while," their mother said.
They usually come to the mall and other stores in Watertown because there's nowhere to shop at home, the mother said.
Mall marketing director Karla Noftsier said Thursday that merchants have been telling her they've noticed an influx of Canadian shoppers coming to the mall in the past several weeks, now that it's easier to cross into the states with COVID-19 restrictions lifted.
As for shoppers coming from other areas of the north country, the mall has attracted people in the past from Ogdensburg and Massena for back-to-school shopping because of a lack of places to shop in those communities, she said.
Wanda M. Purser was at the mall on Wednesday with her two grandchildren for school clothes after they had already been shopping with their mother previously.
She expected to spend about $200 during the day. In some of areas of the country, the nation's inflation has caused people spend more money for back-to-school clothes and items.
But that wasn't so at the mall stores on Wednesday.
"Prices are OK," the grandmother said. "They've been pretty good."
But her grandson, Brendon, told her that he didn't need a lot of new clothes for school this year. He has a closet full of clothes already.
But he did pick up a giant Nerf gun that poked above the brown paper bag he was holding.
They still were headed to some stores to see what they could find.
