Winnipeg businesses see vocal, not monetary support during tariff economy
Posted April 15, 2025 5:27 pm.
Last Updated April 16, 2025 9:37 am.
Shopping local? It hasn’t become as prevalent as you might think.
Despite “shop local” sentiments rising since U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs over two months ago, business owners in Winnipeg aren’t necessarily seeing that translate into sales.
“The one thing we haven’t seen as much this time is the actual follow-through,” said Ryan Bowman, the owner of House of Local and We Heart Winnipeg.
“As business owners, it can be difficult at times, but we do need to remember that people’s hearts are still in the right place, I think. They do want to support local, they do want to shop small. But times are tough. Given the choice, they’d probably choose this nine out of ten times. Unfortunately, not everyone can, but we’re not here to judge, and we’ll take any support people can give us.”
Bowman says it’s a double-edged sword.
“We do, unfortunately, have to charge a little bit more, but the quality is there as well,” he said. “It’s one of those ‘you get what you pay for’ kind of things, but some people just don’t have the extra money right now.”
Nerissa and Matthew Manzano own The Locals, where they and more than 100 local vendors sell their products. They say the vocal support is overwhelming.
“It’s really encouraging for us, it’s really heartwarming for us to see people be more aware of where their stuff comes from and that they can support their community directly,” said Matthew.
Added Nerissa: “We’re kind of business as usual. Here and there, it goes up and down, but we feel like the messaging means a lot more to people nowadays, so we’re hoping it’ll be more of a long term as opposed to a spike in sales then a down. We’re playing the long game.”
Where they have seen a flurry in business: local markets.
“Winnipeg is a tight-knit community for sure. We’ve been to other cities in Canada, we feel like Winnipeg is at the forefront of shopping local,” Matthew explained.
The Manzanos are now hosting five summer markets in the parking lot of Winnipeg’s Outlet Collection mall starting May 10-11. They’ve seen a huge response to those and are hoping this year’s will be even better.
