There has been a lot of conversation in Canada about tariffs, Canadian products and where we spend our money.
On August 22, 2026, new U.S. tariffs took effect on $27.6 billion worth of Canadian goods. In response, Canada announced matching counter-tariffs of 15, 25 and 50 percent on $27.6 billion worth of U.S. imports, taking effect September 8. The measures affect sectors including steel and aluminum, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, plastics and electronics.
Those are enormous international economic decisions. Most of us will never sit at a trade negotiating table. But there is one economic decision we make all the time: Where do we spend the dollars already in our hands?
Global Economics Eventually Reaches Broadway
A tariff might be applied at a border, but that does not mean its impact stays there. Broadway businesses operate within the same global economy as everyone else. A retailer may purchase products manufactured in another country; a Canadian-made product may contain imported components; a restaurant may rely on equipment, packaging or ingredients whose prices are affected by international supply chains; a delivery arriving at a Broadway business has transportation costs built into it.
Exchange rates affect the cost of importing goods. Changes in fuel prices can affect transportation and distribution. Borrowing costs affect businesses making decisions about inventory, equipment, expansion and investment. And businesses facing higher costs are serving customers whose household budgets are being affected by many of those same pressures.
The latest Statistics Canada business data gives us a sense of that environment. In its third-quarter 2026 Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, 41.6 percent of Canadian businesses said they expected inflation to be an obstacle over the following three months. Another 24.1 percent identified input costs as an expected obstacle, and 22.6 percent identified transportation costs. Among accommodation and food-service businesses, a particularly important sector on Broadway, 58.3 percent expected inflation to be an obstacle.
Tariffs are only one part of the story. Affordability, transportation, inventory costs, labour, borrowing and consumer confidence are part of it too.
Tariff Costs Are Already Reaching Customers
Statistics Canada’s latest data also shows that some tariff-related costs are already moving through the economy. As of the third quarter of 2026, 27.4 percent of Canadian businesses reported that they had passed tariff-related cost increases on to customers during the previous 12 months. Another 30.4 percent said they were somewhat or very likely to pass tariff-related costs on to customers during the next year. Nearly one-third of businesses, 32.2 percent, expected U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods to negatively affect their business. And in retail specifically, 27.8 percent of businesses expected their selling prices to increase over the following three months.
Those numbers matter to a district like Broadway because they reinforce something local businesses and customers already know: There is pressure on both sides of the till. Businesses are trying to manage rising and changing costs. Customers are trying to make household budgets work.
That makes conversations about shopping locally more complicated and more important.
Canadians Are Already Shopping Differently
There is also evidence that Canadians have changed some of their purchasing habits.
Statistics Canada found earlier this year that 42.7 percent of Canadian retail businesses had changed their marketing practices to promote Canadian products. More importantly, 35.8 percent of retailers reported an increase in sales of Canadian products during the previous 12 months.
That suggests the interest in buying Canadian has moved beyond social-media posts and slogans. Customers are making different choices. But there is an important distinction to make.
Buying Canadian and Shopping Local Are Not the Same Thing
A product can be Canadian-made and purchased from a multinational retailer; a product can also be manufactured outside Canada and purchased from a locally owned Saskatoon business. Both decisions have economic implications, but they are not interchangeable. That distinction is particularly important in a district like Broadway.
Turning the Tide carries books from Canadian and international publishers. Outter Limits carries Canadian and international outdoor brands. Steep Hill Food Co-op and The Bulk Cheese Warehouse carry foods from Saskatchewan, Canada and around the world. Restaurants throughout the district work with ingredients that cannot all be sourced locally year-round. Soul Paper carries stationery and creative goods from a variety of makers and suppliers.
Broadway retailers may carry locally made, Canadian-made, and imported products side by side. That does not make them any less part of the local economy.
When you purchase through a Broadway business, part of that transaction supports a business operating here in Saskatoon: its employees, commercial space, local services and the many other expenses involved in keeping a storefront open. And when you can choose a local or Canadian-made product from that business, another layer can be added.
At Handmade House or the Saskatchewan Craft Council, for example, you can purchase work created by Saskatchewan artists. At Nutana Bakery, you are buying from a bakery that has been part of the neighbourhood for generations. At McQuarrie’s Tea & Coffee Merchants, you are supporting a longstanding Broadway business while purchasing products whose origins quite literally stretch around the world.
Local does not have to mean everything came from here. It can also mean asking who is creating economic activity here.
Let’s Be Fair About the Big-Box Store
Supporting Broadway businesses does not require pretending a neighbourhood commercial district will always beat a large retailer on price, selection or speed. Sometimes a big-box store is the practical choice. You can park once, work through a large list, make one payment and go home. Sometimes it has the lowest price. Sometimes it has exactly what you need. Sometimes ordering online is easier. And sometimes budgets, schedules, transportation, accessibility or family circumstances make convenience particularly important.
Shopping locally should not become another test people have to pass. No one should feel guilty for buying the affordable option or choosing the convenient one. A much more useful question is: When the options are reasonably close, what else can your purchase create?
What Can $100 and 90 Minutes Do?
No reliable Saskatoon study tells us that $100 spent on Broadway creates exactly X dollars more locally than $100 spent at a big-box store. There is also no credible evidence that shopping on Broadway is automatically faster. So we are not going to pretend there is.
Instead, imagine two ordinary shopping trips.
You have approximately $100 and 90 minutes.
The Big-Box Trip
You head to one large retailer. You work through your list. Maybe you need groceries, something for a birthday, a household item and a few other basics. You find what you need. You go through one checkout. You head home. There is genuine value in that efficiency.
The Broadway Trip
You give yourself the same 90 minutes and roughly the same budget. Maybe you pick up cheese or supper ingredients from The Bulk Cheese Warehouse or Steep Hill Food Co-op. You grab bread or something sweet at Nutana Bakery. You find a birthday card at Soul Paper. You look for a gift at Wren, The Better Good, Handmade House or the Saskatchewan Craft Council. You refill the tea or coffee tin at McQuarrie’s. You order the book you have been looking for through Turning the Tide. Maybe you finally drop off the shoes or boots sitting at home for repair at Broadway Shoe Repair rather than replacing them.
You may have several transactions instead of one. You may walk farther. It may not be faster. But something different has happened.
Your $100 has interacted with several businesses rather than one. You may have purchased something from a Saskatchewan artist. You may have kept an existing item in use instead of buying a replacement. You may have received advice from someone who knows the product. You may have discovered a shop you had never entered before. You might notice an exhibition in a gallery window. You might see what is coming up at the Broadway Theatre. You might stop for coffee. You might run into someone you know.
You may even spend exactly the same amount you intended to spend, but distribute it very differently. Neither trip makes someone a better person. They simply create different kinds of economic and community activity.
What Is Our Time Worth?
Most shopping decisions tend to be measured using two questions: What did it cost? How quickly can we get it done? Those are legitimate measures. Broadway invites us to add another: What happened while we were there?
There is economic value in someone spending time in a district. Someone who comes to Broadway for dinner may stop in a store. Someone attending the Broadway Theatre may have dessert afterward. A customer picking up groceries may notice a new business. Someone coming for an appointment may grab coffee. An event can introduce visitors to businesses they did not know existed. A customer who originally came for one business can become a customer of three.
That is one of the advantages of having businesses clustered together in a walkable commercial district. The businesses can create customers for one another. So perhaps the goal is not always to make every shopping trip as short as possible. Sometimes the value is in giving ourselves permission to wander a little.
Shopping Local Does Not Have to Mean Spending More
This might be the most important distinction of all. Supporting the local economy does not have to mean buying more things. Sometimes it can mean buying less.
Repair the shoes you already own instead of replacing them. Borrow something you only need once. Buy one meaningful gift from a Saskatchewan maker instead of several things that will quickly be discarded. Order a book locally rather than automatically ordering it online. Move one grocery purchase you were already going to make. Choose a Canadian product when it fits your needs and budget. Ask a Broadway retailer whether they can bring something in before assuming you need to order it elsewhere.
Spend locally when the purchase was already going to happen. Supporting Broadway does not have to require adding $100 to your budget. It can be about deciding where an existing $100 goes.
Small Businesses Are Part of the Trade Story Too
When international trade makes the news, it can be easy to picture only large manufacturers and multinational corporations. Small Canadian businesses can be exporters too.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business surveyed 1,833 independent Canadian business owners this summer about the impact of new U.S. tariffs. Among small businesses exporting to the United States, 40 percent said they sold products affected by proposed 50 percent U.S. tariffs. Among those affected exporters, 77 percent expected revenue losses, and 35 percent expected their revenues to fall by at least half if the tariffs were implemented.
That can include a manufacturer. But it can also include a food producer, a maker, an artist, or a small Canadian brand. International economics and neighbourhood economics are not as separate as they sometimes appear.
Local Businesses Still Have to Earn the Sale
“Shop local” should never mean:
Buy something you do not need. Spend money you do not have. Accept poor service. Pay a price that does not work for your household. Or support a business simply because of its postal code.
Broadway businesses have responsibilities too. They need to offer good products. Useful services. Fair value. Welcoming experiences. Expertise. Interesting ideas. And reasons for customers to come back.
This blog post’s job is not to tell people where they must spend their money. It is to help people understand that where they choose to spend it has an impact.
Tariffs Are the Current Story. Resilience Is the Bigger One.
Tariff rates will change. Trade negotiations will continue. Fuel prices will rise and fall. Exchange rates will move. Interest rates will change. Today’s economic headline will eventually be replaced by another one. That is exactly why this conversation should not really be about tariffs.
It should be about resilience.
What kinds of businesses do we want to remain available in our community when the economy changes? Do we want neighbourhood grocery stores? Independent retailers? Repair businesses? Restaurants owned and operated here? Specialty expertise? Saskatchewan artists with places to sell their work? Independent bookstores? Family businesses? Entrepreneurs willing to try something new? Places where a business decision can be made by someone who is actually part of the community affected by it?
If the answer is yes, those businesses need customers. Not for every purchase. Not at any price. And not out of guilt. But when the product works, the price works and the choice is available, choosing a Broadway business is one direct way to participate in the local economy.
Most of us have very little influence over what happens at an international negotiating table. But collectively, we have quite a lot of influence over what happens at the counters, tables, studios, shops, restaurants and storefronts in our own community. When there is a receipt, where you spend matters too.