Bridal Economics: Cross-Border Shopping

A few (*cough* 15 years *cough*) ago, while prom dress shopping, we never considered shopping in our home country of Canada. Why? The social media age had not yet hit, so we were not aware of the great shops in our province. Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat didn’t exist (and it also took a few years for brands to be allowed on those sites). Some dress shops had websites, but they were difficult to navigate and held little information (i.e. the basics – physical address, phone number, email address). You shopped where your friends, or family members had previously shopped. And at that time, my friends and family shopped in the US, since we lived close to the border, and the exchange rate was in our favour.

In January, 2012, when I was ready to find my wedding dress, it made sense to ONLY shop in Canada. I was older (some say wiser), and I knew that shopping in my home province would mean great service, great products, and my purchase would benefit the local economy.

For those of you who are still considering leaving the country for prom or bridal shopping, here are the financial reasons why you should stay. I'll dive into the more personal reasons for shopping local in a future blog!

xo