Mall: fewer Canadians making trip

MASSENA — There are fewer cars with Canadian license plates in the parking lot of the St. Lawrence Centre mall these days.

Since the Seaway International Bridge was shut down more than a week ago, Canadians have a longer trip to come to Massena to shop, and the mall is more quiet than usual.

"We've definitely noticed a difference. The Canadians are still coming, just not as many," marketing manager Tiffany Joy Greene said. "It's definitely not a crisis."

Approximately 20 percent of the mall's traffic comes from north of the border. Because the bridge has been closed for just over a week, gauging its impact is difficult.

"It depends. How is the situation going to be handled and what are the other options" for ending the protests? Ms. Greene said. "So much could happen."

The Seaway International Bridge is the closest border crossing to the mall. Now that it is closed, the nearest options are the Fort Covington land crossing on Dundee Road and the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge. The Dundee crossing is approximately 10 miles east of the mall and the Ogdensburg bridge is more than 30 miles west.

Last weekend was the first since the bridge in Massena closed as a result of ongoing protests by the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe against the arming of Canadian customs officers. Weekends are when most Canadians come to the United States to shop, but their diminished numbers were not as obvious because of a battle of the bands event on Sunday at the mall's arena, according to Ms. Greene.

However, mall employees have noticed a change. Though the mall is fairly quiet during weekdays, there are more employees tending empty stores or standing in doorways.

"Sales went down, the mall's been pretty dead," said Christopher A. Barcomb, an employee at Auntie Anne's, a pretzel stand in the mall's food court. "They've been cutting our hours, at least four a day."

At other shops, the situation is not so bad, though the decrease in traffic is obvious just by watching passers-by in the mall, employees at Apollo Salon said.

"During the week it's always pretty slow," salon Manager Megan E. LaBire said. "It's not tremendous, but it's noticeable. Overall, it hasn't really affected us to where it's bad."