U.S. retailers continue Canadian invasion

"When you have 46 square feet of retail space for everybody in the United States…and you've only got about 13 in Canada, people look at that and they say there's a big opportunity to do business in Canada and still do it at good gross margins," he says. "I think this will just continue…U.S retailers have to be looking north."

Kniffen says that while there are differences between the Canadian and American consumer, U.S. retailers are already adept at dealing with geographic distances.

"I don't think that they [U.S. retailers] believe there's a lot they have to do different," he says. "In the past they were concerned about the fact that it wasn't as friendly a business environment based on the Canadian government."