POINT ROBERTS — Rows of colorful rubber ducks stare out from the shelves of a small store tucked inside a mall in British Columbia, looking startled with wide eyes and open beaks.
The Rubber Duck Museum, not long ago an attraction in the American exclave Point Roberts, is now a destination for Canadian visitors after closing its Point Roberts location after closing and then reopening in Tsawwassen, B.C. in December. Glass cases display icons in toy duck history, including a cloth mallard on wheels from 1911, as joyful shrieks float in from a next-door children’s play center.
The cheerful storefront feels like a reprieve from the outside world. But for owners Neil and Krystal King, the past year has been fraught with challenges.
Around the same time they moved the duck museum, they closed down their adjoining specialty store, Kora’s Corner, in Point Roberts. They were facing a steep downturn in sales, overhead increases in part due to tariffs and a dramatic rent hike.
The Kings are among the business owners in Point Roberts who are having to adjust after a decline in Canadian tourists, which some attribute to political tensions with the United States. Several said traffic to their business has not improved since last year.
It’s an existential problem for the 5-square-mile community that is connected only to Canada by land. Visitors must cross an international border to drive down the quiet, tree-lined road that leads into town.
The area’s unique situation is not without perks. Longtime resident Allison Calder never worried about her kids riding their bikes to a local park with friends when they were young teenagers.
Living in Point Roberts is like “living in a gated community and not having to pay for it,” she said.
Recent years, however, have exposed some of the exclave’s vulnerabilities, particularly for those whose livelihoods depend on visitors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, residents endured a 19-month-long border closure with only an emergency foot ferry service to get to Bellingham.
“We really never came back from COVID,” said Nick Kiniski, owner of Kiniski’s Reef, a pub on the point’s waterfront. “I think people got out of the habit (of) coming here.”
Last year, another shift took hold. Federal data shows a nearly 24% decline in personal vehicles crossing the border into Point Roberts between June and August 2025 compared with the same months the previous year. Summer tourist season is peak time for many Point Roberts businesses.
“It’s been a long six years,” said Ali Hayton, owner of International Marketplace, the point’s grocery store. The downturn last year hit right as the community seemed to be getting back to normal, she said.
Many factors influence Canadian border crossings, and isolating them is challenging, wrote Jennifer Bettis, research and program manager at Western Washington University’s Border Policy Research Institute.
Calder, a member of the Point Roberts Community Advisory Committee, points to the weak Canadian dollar, which was valued at $0.72 U.S. at the mid-market rate as of Wednesday, April 8, according to the money transfer company Xe.
Through the committee, Calder receives reports on county gas tax revenue for Point Roberts and her data shows the fund dipped when the Canadian dollar fell around 2015. That indicates fewer Canadians driving down to take advantage of cheaper American gas.
British Columbia got rid of its carbon tax on fuel in April 2025, likely making a dent in Canadian visits to U.S. pump stations.
In Calder’s eyes, the exchange rate and a lack of infrastructure and housing are Point Roberts’ biggest issues.
Others believe poor relations between the U.S. and Canada following antagonistic comments and hardline trade policies from President Donald Trump are more significant.
When Tamra Hansen, owner of a cafe and restaurant in the exclave, first moved to Point Roberts in 2000, the Canadian dollar was low, valued at $0.66 U.S. by the end of the year, according to Xe.
Even so, she recalled the area had seven restaurants at the time compared to four now.
Hansen, who is originally from Canada, said her number of customers went down “almost immediately” after the new U.S. presidential administration took over. She’s spoken to Canadians, including friends and family members, who are now afraid of being “accosted” crossing the border.
Finding employees in Point Roberts also is difficult because of a shortage of young people and a difficult rental market, so Hansen keeps her businesses open even during the slow winter months to retain staff. Normally, she saves money from the summer to get through the down period.
Business last summer was “OK,” but “there was nothing to save,” she said. She’s planning events and hosting weddings to try to bring in more revenue this year, but running her restaurants continues to be a struggle.
“I put myself in a predicament where I have to make it up this year,” Hansen said, “and if I don’t, there’s gonna be some hard decisions to make.”
The demographics of homebuyers in Point Roberts are also changing, said Daniel Schroeder, owner of Boundary Bay Realty in the exclave. In past years, at least half of his clients were Canadian, he said.
He noticed a steep and sudden drop in those buyers that seemed to come at the same time as a movement to Canadian domestic products as U.S. tariffs took hold last year.
Some prospective buyers, both Canadian and American, have told Schroeder they are no longer interested because they are worried about harassment crossing the border.
Real estate is a cyclical business, Schroeder said, “so there will be good times and there will be tough times, and it feels like maybe this could be a tough time for the foreseeable future.”
Calder and fellow resident Dee Gough believe the point has to redirect its focus more toward advertising to potential American visitors rather than Canadians. Gough grew up in Squamish, British Columbia, between Whistler and Vancouver, and said she witnessed that area’s transition toward tourism.
“I feel like I lived this once already in my lifetime,” she said. “And we can do great things here, we just need to get a plan together.”
That plan will take time. In the meantime, Kora’s Corner was one of at least two businesses that didn’t make it through last year. The Kings still hope to reopen it at some point, Neil King said. The store is named after their daughter, Koraline.
Koraline loved talking to customers and picking out rubber ducks for them, Neil King said. “It’s one of those things where you don’t really know how much it means to you until it’s gone.”
Sophia Gates, covering rural Whatcom and Skagit counties for Cascadia Daily News, is with the Washington State Murrow Fellowships, a local news program supported by state legislators.
