Ali Hayton certainly appreciated a visit by concerned U.S. politicians to her grocery store last summer. She is even more thrilled to see some familiar customers again with “cabin season” still coming in the weeks ahead.
It was nearly nine months ago when Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee and Congresswoman Suzan DelBene dropped by the International Marketplace during a rare visit to Point Roberts to better understand the financial hardships the isolated community was going through with the border closed at the time to non-essential travel. It resulted in the store receiving $100,000 in emergency state funding just to remain open.
By November, not only did the border re-open in both directions, it was the efforts of Inslee, DelBene and U.S. Senator Patty Murray that helped persuade Canada’s Order of Council to give the Boundary Bay/Point Roberts crossing a special exemption from pre-entry COVID testing.
Throw in record B.C. gas prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and many Metro Vancouver residents are now making those short trips to Point Roberts part of their weekly routine again. So much so that the U.S. Nexus Lane is slated to re-open this weekend to deal with the additional traffic.
“We're finally starting to see numbers that we haven't seen in a while. The gas prices are bringing people down and people are ready to try it again. There's just a lot more people now in Point Roberts,” said Hayton. “There is still a long way to go, but it’s definitely moving in the direction. As I told (Seattle TV station) King 5, I will never complain about a long wait at the border ever again!”
Hayton said the store is now bringing in more stock and there are at last hopes of a busy spring and summer ahead as more Canadians return to their vacation properties on a regular basis and frequent the store.
Returning to Canada still requires use of the ArriveCan app and potentially being randomly selected to do a COVID test at home.
“I don’t think the ArriveCan is going anywhere anytime soon but that’s okay,” added Hayton. “I think we’re just grateful of the progress that has been made to reach this point while still explaining what some of our issues are.”
