Manitoba

Emerson businesses getting creative due to U.S. border closure

COVID-19 restrictions mean things at one of the busiest land border crossings in the country has slowed to a dribble. Apart from a few trucks, Highway 75 is otherwise empty.

With travel to U.S. banned, businesses in Emerson making bold decisions

COVID-19 restrictions mean traffic at one of the busiest land border crossings in the country, in Emerson, Man., has slowed to a dribble. (John Einarson/CBC )

An hour's drive from Winnipeg and a stone's throw from the squat concrete monolith marking the line between Emerson and Pembina, N.D., is Canada's oldest duty-free store.

The family-owned business has sold liquor, tobacco, perfumes, cosmetics and Canadiana to cross-border travellers since 1982.

Simon Resch, owner of the Emerson Duty Free, surveys the slow trickle of commercial trucks moving through the Pembina-Emerson border crossing on an icy, bright morning.

To read more on this story from the Winnipeg Free Press, click here.

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