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Quebec Furniture Company Shutting Down, Citing U.S. Trade War
The company said cheap imports and U.S. tariffs cut sales 77% from 2022 to 2025, forcing it to close plants and lay off 126 workers.
On Monday, South Shore Furniture announced it is ceasing operations, ending its 86-year history and impacting 126 employees across Sainte-Croix and Coaticook, Quebec.
The company reported a 77 per cent sales drop between 2022 and 2025, blaming the decline on cheap Asian imports and American tariffs that redirected products to the Canadian market.
CEO Charles Laflamme said, "We've done everything we could to keep our business running," adding that operating where World Trade Organization rules are ignored has become impossible.
In Sainte-Croix, a town of 2,700 people, South Shore served as a major employer; the closure follows similar departures by Dorel Industries Inc. and Prepac Manufacturing last year.
The Canadian Wood Products Alliance is lobbying Ottawa to immediately implement provisional tariffs on foreign-made goods, arguing the ongoing trade inquiry will not provide sufficient short-term relief.
"This is an extremely difficult situation for our family": The dumping of furniture from Asia and the trade war with the United States were right with Furniture South Shore, which announced the complete end of its operations on Monday morning. The company's sales, which employed 126 people, had reached peaks during the pandemic.