The Costume Shoppe, located along Blackfoot Trail S.E., has been operating for nearly 25 years and regularly imports themed costumes for special occasions and holidays.
"What's frustrating is that there's no logic behind it. You can't tell me that a Scream costume or a Ghostface mask is something that you're going to wear every day as clothing," Schoel said. "So this could be as much as $100,000 or $200,000, based on all of the import that's come in over the last four years, and the only way to fight this is to pay first and then you can appeal, so it's a problem because I don't have the wherewithal coming out of the pandemic."
"The CBSA said I should have known better and that these are headbands. There's just no rhyme or reason to this." In this case, the CBSA deemed Halloween costumes being imported by Loblaws Canada did not fall under Chapter 95 of the Canadian Customs Tariff. "If agencies and the federal government are here to play judge, jury and executioner, then all businesses should be treated fairly."