Prices drop in Stratford

By Ryan Ross

Customers expect prices to go down to keep up with the changing dollar, the owner of a Stratford hobby store says.
Jim Ewing, the owner of Great Hobbies, lowered prices in response to the rising Canadian dollar.
They have made several price changes along with the loonie but there is a psychological barrier where people expect more of a change, he said.
“Once we hit par that’s when everyone’s brain switched.”
The loonie reached parity with the US dollar in September and has since hit record highs.
And Ewing said at Great Hobbies, more than 95 per cent of their stock gets priced through the U.S.
“There’s not a heck of a lot that doesn’t.”
To help make the transition the company had a sale before lowering prices, he said.
“We ate the GST.”
Ewing said they made the decision to lower prices about a month before making the change.
“We didn’t wait that long.”
But it took time to adjust the price on the almost 70,000 products they carry, he said.
“Not a simple feat to re-price all of that.”
Ewing said a lot of that product stays on the shelf for a while.
“Your average product will change every two to three months.”
That means the amount they make off each item will change with the dollar, he said.
“There are times when you’ll be on the short end of the stick.”
Most of the competition has followed their lead, which Ewing said they always do.
“We were definitely the first.”
Brittany Stephen, one of Ewing’s employees, said she has been getting positive feedback from customer.
“Definitely had a few say others have to jump on the bandwagon and lower theirs too.”
But Stephen said she wasn’t sure if they were busier because of the prices.
“Hard to say because the phone system changed at the same time.”
Ewing said even though the dollar has changed there are other factors that make doing business in Canada more expensive than in the United States.
Factors like high taxes and the cost of getting things across the border mean they have to add to prices to cover the cost of doing business, he said.
“From what I’ve heard most people are OK with that.”