West Coast Tax & Duty Free

Highway robbery. This place sells your typical array of poorly produced tourist gack for ridiculous prices and I had the misfortune of needing a drink of water so went in to buy a bottle. They have imposed what I would assume is an unlawful minimum spend of $15 before you’re allowed to leave. Insanity. I don’t care if everyone in line at the shop is hoping to shorten their time at the border - to demand a minimum purchase value is disgusting. There went my lunch budget and I get to eat overpriced potato chips. Yay Canada.

My favorite place to buy liquor after visiting Vancouver BC.Updated visit after 3yrs: The store continued to offer a large selections of liquor, most items have increased in price. The average price increased by 5-8%, while some increased up to 20%.Update 12/26/2022: Most mid and upper-tier whiskey and scotch pricing have increased by 20% since my visit in May 2022.

The only duty free on the west coast with acceptable prices, compared to all others in the area.Update 15Jan2023.They now have a $15/- min purchase to use restroom. The cashier was super rude when I just bought a $7/- kinder saying you can't buy so less. She assumed I was trying to avoid lineup. I showed I have Nexus, but she was still rude. BTW, there was no lineup anywhere.They should work on their cashier customer service, especially for regular Nexus VIP customers. Only person who I know has perfect customer service is Vlad.

If I can give zero star, I would.I will/should never go there again. I was told by the staff at the parking lot that I MUST (Yes, must!) make a purchase before I can leave.I tried to explain to him that I couldn't find what I wanted to buy. I originally wanted to buy some cosmetics but there is barely any choices.He replied rudely, Everyone is looking for something there. Just go back in to buy a bottle of water or something! You cannot come in without making a purchase. You cannot leave here without a receipt." I cannot believe what I heard.I thought it may be because sometimes people just come inside to cut the line. Therefore

Still open during the pandemic but hours are reduced to 9-5 and you have to know what you want before hand and ask for it through the window. Washrooms are still open, and there is a small parking spot for truckers.

Great place to shop duty free before covid, now selection on liquor is limited, discount for members dropp from 10 to 7%. Not cool.

I've been coming here for years as long as I can remember as a child when they opened the truck crossing and put the duty free store here so you can jump the line. They even advertised that you can jump the line with any purchase on radios and tv advertisements back in the day.This has been my secret for years to use as not everyone does this. There never was a minimum until today! They have instated a $15.00 minimum in order to jump the line. This is only in effect when there are long lines and obviously for long weekend holidays or any weekend as it's busy.What is frustrating is they never have any low ticket items which you may need to sit in the car queue like bottled water which they've upped to 2 for $6! There's hardly any candy or chips in stock anymore, just booze in the water cooler and high ticket items which you're being forced to buy now if you want out or need to use the toilets.I asked the cashier and they said it's coming from upstairs management office. Shame on you guys during a tough economic situation that's been on in the last year.If the company was smart you'd sell more snacks and profit more this way instead of forcing everyone who is unaware of these so-called peak time minimum cash grabs.People, think hard if the $15 you spend to jump the line is worth your time and the actual cost of gas burned while idling on the car queue to cross the border during peak hours.

Complaint:My partner was going across the border but he missed the turn so he dropped me off and I walked over to duty free. The security guard was adamant on not letting me go in and shop because the car wasn’t on premise. Perhaps it would be beneficial to put a sign outside saying your car must be on premise and in the parkade. He was rude about it and I just said forget it. Honestly I’d rather pay higher prices elsewhere instead.

This is a great place, finally a minimum charge of $15 to prevent line jumpers. To many cheaters before.

Forcing customers a minium spend or you can't leave... Ever.