B.C. Firms Grow Bellingham Branches

A recent article in The Province demonstrates Canada and specifically British Columbia's interest in business and trade with the U.S.  The article titled, B.C. firms grow Bellingham branches, discussed the growing interest of businesses in Greater Vancouver opening up branch offices in Whatcom County and specifically, Bellingham.  In this article Rob Pochert, executive director of Bellingham Whatcom Economic Development Council indicated that 98 percent of the queries he receives regarding expanding into Whatcom County are from Canadian businesses.  Readers of this blog will remember previous discussions regarding the uncertainty regarding the number of Canadian businesses operating in Whatcom County.  Mr. Pochert sheds some light on this by stating that he estimates 70 to 75 of the 250 manufacturers in Whatcom County are units of Canadian companies.  This is a difficult number to track as most Canadian companies operate as U.S. entities and have no direct tie back to their Canadian parent company.  Being able to market "Made in America" is a big factor and many Canadian companies operating in the U.S. don't want it known that they are in fact Canadian.  The article in The Province spent some time discussing Nature's Path Foods which is a Richmond B.C. based company, but has a 140,000 square foot facility in Ferndale.  It is interesting to note that Nature's Path Foods is now discussing expanding to Chicago to open a distribution and logistics centre.  This only demonstrates how opening a branch office in Whatcom County including Blaine, Ferndale, Bellingham, Lynden, or Sumas can be a first step for a Canadian company to fully expand throughout the U.S.