Canadians Swell Sales Along U.S. Border : Retail: A stronger Canadian dollar has helped boost U.S. sales. But some border residents are annoyed by the swarm of foreign shoppers.

Canadian shoppers have made this holiday season jolly for U.S. retailers, but some residents are feeling a lack of good will toward fellow shoppers from across the border.

Low U.S. prices and a comparatively strong Canadian dollar have caused Canadians to throng grocery stores, liquor marts and factory outlets throughout this border city.

“The prices--check it out,” said Manny Hilario, 23, who drove 100 miles from Brampton, Ontario, to shop at the Factory Outlet Mall one recent Saturday. Outside, in an overflowing parking lot, Ontario plates outnumbered New York plates more than three to one.

The crowded lots, long checkout lines and delays entering Canada on the area’s three international bridges have caused tempers to rise at times.

A group of six Niagara Falls residents announced recently that they were forming a group called “People Against Canadian Shoppers” to press local merchants to deal with the problems.

“We have nothing against them (Canadians) personally, but we do think something could be done to improve the situation for everyone,” Steve Hughes, a spokesman for the group, told the Niagara Gazette.

Hughes said his group is circulating petitions blaming Canadians for everything from litter and rudeness to unsafely transporting gasoline across the border in extra tanks.

That effort, in turn, has prompted U.S. business and tourism officials to hasten to assure Canadians that they are still welcome.

“It’s easy to blow this out of proportion and make out that there’s a major war going on,” said Ray Wigle, spokesman for the Niagara Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The convention and visitors bureau and the Niagara Falls Area Chamber of Commerce have urged businesses to clean up the trash and expand checkouts. Local governments have been asked to increase traffic control in order to reduce the complaints.

Local Canada Customs officials have asked the agency that operates the international bridges to expand the customs facilities and are trying to persuade Ottawa to allocate more staff.

Same-day shopping traffic across the Rainbow and Whirlpool bridges has increased by almost 60% over the past four years, and at the Lewiston-Queenston bridge, the main route to major Canadian cities such as Hamilton and Toronto, traffic is up 107% over that period, said John Johnston, district manager for Canada Customs operations in Niagara Falls.

Theories abound as to why the number of shoppers has multiplied, though the year-old U.S.-Canada free trade pact isn’t considered a direct cause. The agreement has reduced wholesale tariffs on several categories of merchandise but has not yet affected the duties paid by individual shoppers at the border.

Still, free trade may have subtly boosted cross-border shopping by helping to strengthen the Canadian dollar. The Canadian dollar trades at about 85 U.S. cents these days after falling as low as 70 cents earlier in the decade.

Niagara Falls, N.Y., also has a built-in price advantage because western New York is one of the cheaper regions of the United States, but Niagara Falls, Ontario, is an extension of the pricey Toronto metropolitan area, Wigle said.

Price is not the only attraction of the United States, some Canadian shoppers said.

“In groceries, anything new they come out with (in the United States) is in Canada the year after,” said Lisa Morrice of Hamilton, Ontario.

U.S. grocery chains began advertising heavily across the border in the past few months after seeing the stronger dollar and the increased willingness of Canadians to cross the bridges.

Canadian merchants say they can’t compete with U.S. prices.