50 per cent tariff<\/a> as of Saturday.<\/p>\n“I’m so happy that we made the decision that we did when we did.”<\/p>\n
That decision meant financing a costly expansion to the retail store to lean more on local sales.<\/p>\n
It also meant labouring over months to source appropriate materials and new products, such as giftware and gourmet food, from Canada, Asia and Europe \u2014 offering more appealing options to Manitobans avoiding or boycotting American products.<\/p>\n
Farmer’s Son did not have to close its brick-and-mortar shop, but it meant perfecting and reformulating the delicate fragrances customers had become accustomed to \u2014 with new supplies.<\/p>\n
“There’s still different materials that we know we can’t source in Canada, and a lot of it comes down to vetting partners overseas before saying, ‘OK, we’re going to send this many dollars to a factory wherever to buy glassware or packaging,” said Mitchell, who has a background in retail purchasing and sourcing.<\/p>\n
“It’s an ongoing process, but the vast majority of what we do has been replaced by Canadian partners,” he said. “Our clientele has really noticed that, and as a result, our retail sales are actually up for this year.”<\/p>\n
Under their new business model, candles only account for about 35 per cent of Farmer’s Son’s annual sales, whereas they previously made up more than 90 per cent.<\/p>\n
“We have eliminated a lot of the risk of having so many eggs in one basket.”<\/p>\n
Pivoting not easy for everyone<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce CEO Loren Remillard said he is hearing concern, but not panic, from members.<\/p>\n
He says companies and industries are looking to do more business within Canada while eyeing new international markets, including those with whom the country has recently signed new trade agreements.<\/p>\n
But not all can or will disentangle themselves from trade with the U.S. \u2014 Manitoba’s No. 1 customer, Remillard said.<\/p>\n
Canola, potatoes and vegetables, crude oil, buses and aircraft were among Manitoba’s top exports to the U.S. between January and July 2026, the Manitoba government says.<\/p>\n
Remillard expressed optimism cooler heads will prevail and that American and Canadian officials can come to an agreement soon.<\/p>\n
![\"Loren](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/cbc.ca\/c35e431791821b64dc0c0c845c1aeb44.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Loren Remillard, CEO and president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, says not all companies or industries can stop trading so easily with the United States. (Travis Golby\/CBC)<\/p>\n
“Even when we get to the other side of this trade dispute, businesses will still recognize that they don’t want to find themselves where they’re overly reliant on the U.S. market, and will continue to examine, ‘Where should I be expanding to? How do I lessen my dependency on any one market?'” he said.<\/p>\n
“Eighteen months ago, I think companies were in a little bit of a shock and started to examine and build up those contingency plans. Some have activated them earlier than others, and some contingency plans are much more difficult to … flip a switch on.”<\/p>\n
Mitchell said he’s encouraged that some of his partners have already started diversifying their supply chains.<\/p>\n
He empathizes with businesses scrambling under the latest tariffs but feels they were somewhat predictable.<\/p>\n
Mitchell’s own costs could go up if his distributors and manufacturers aren’t as well insulated, and they could face shortages if other businesses flock to the same suppliers.<\/p>\n
Still, he’s glad Farmer’s Son decided to pivot.<\/p>\n
“Knowing that we’ve overcome some of those major hurdles and now can lean in and focus in on what we do best, I’m happy that we’ve done what we’ve done.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A candle and home goods company in Winnipeg hopes to navigate the latest storm of U.S. tariffs largely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[3583,351,58897,58901,58898,58896,58900,2878,84,58899],"class_list":["post-186509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-american","tag-canadian","tag-farmers-son","tag-hes","tag-loren-remillard","tag-mitchell","tag-remillard","tag-u-s","tag-winnipeg","tag-winnipeg-chamber-of-commerce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}