CALAIS, Maine (WABI) - Heather Henry-Tenan’s typical work day is at a business that’s anything but typical; a feed store that doubles as an international package handling facility.
“Say you bought a $20 t-shirt," she explained. "That company is going to charge you $100 to get it across the bridge. People pick them up here, they go through customs, pay the duty and the taxes, and it’s still cheaper than having it shipped across the border.”
Clyde Eldridge is Heather’s father. He opened the feed store in 1982 after moving across the bridge from Canada. When family and friends found they couldn’t get packages shipped internationally, they asked Clyde if those packages could be delivered to his feed store.
“His friends would tell their friends, and their friends would tell their friends, and now 25 years later, we have seven thousand customers.”
When the U.S./Canadian border shut down last spring to all non-essential traffic, it nearly ground the package handling business to a halt. C & E is getting as many packages as they can over the border, but until the pandemic is over, more than a thousand packages bound for Canada will sit in the store in Calais.
“For those people that it’s not cost effective or efficient for them, they leave the packages here,” Henry-Tenan said. "And we tell them we’ll keep them forever. And we do.”
Even before the pandemic, Henry-Tenan said some packages might sit at the feed store for months, or even years before being picked up. Some have never been picked up at all. So not having easy border access in months has been devastating for a business that typically relies on it. But C & E is still a local feed store, and having those roots is what’s helping them get by.
“A lot of local Canadians in New Brunswick, I just want to say thank you to all of them, and to the farmers," she said. "They’re the ones that are keeping us afloat.”
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November 18, 2020 at 06:45AM
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Calais feed store doubling as international package handling company - WABI
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