How Rain City Games is responding to tariffs
- Last updated
Tariffs have crept into game night. Here’s what to expect: price changes, shifts in product selection, and a greater focus on Canadian creators. We break down how these changes will impact our store—and what we’re doing to adapt.
Welp, here we are. Tariffs are back and hitting close to home.
Fortunately (and I use that term extremely loosely) we have a bit of experience with tariffs – trading card games like Pokemon and Magic were subject to retaliatory tariffs in 2018.
So far, things seem to be matching up with what we saw last time:
- Prices will rise as costs go up. This is an unfortunate reality of tariffs, but we will make every effort to minimize increases where possible.
- These cost increases will be delayed in most cases. Anything already here in Canada should stay the same price for now. However, as our suppliers restock, we’ll see prices creep up as a result of the extra taxes.
- We may discontinue some items if their prices go up too much. We’re always happy to special order, but these items may no longer appear on our shelves.
- You’ll see a greater focus on Canadian products and suppliers. We already highlight Canadian designers in-store and on our website; expect to see even more products from these homegrown creators.
- We’ll be taking fewer chances on smaller indie titles out of the US. While we might have chosen to stock unproven American products before, tariffs make those products too risky to explore now.
- You’ll see more products from non-American sources – there’s a whole world of options for games and accessories.
So why aren’t we discontinuing all American products?
To be abundantly clear, we are fully in the Elbows Up camp. As we navigate this unpleasant situation, it's important that our decisions reflect both our identity as Canadians and as proud members of a global gaming community.
Until a few months ago, the board game industry was a multinational one - a game could be designed in Canada, produced by a German company, using US-licensed characters, manufactured in China, distributed through the company’s US branch, and arrive back in Canada on our shelves. (That’s the locally-designed Chronicles of Light, if you’re wondering.)
Or think of Cobble Hill, a puzzle company based on Vancouver Island - they design and illustrate their puzzles here in BC, but their puzzles are physically made in the US. That was an excellent business decision a few months ago; now they’re stuck in an unwinnable position, facing astronomical charges every time they try to bring their products back home to Canada.
We could take a hardline stance and simply cut all American titles from our shelves, but that would have unintended consequences for the Canadian creators caught up in this mess. And frankly there are enough unintended consequences in the mix already.
Moving forward
We’ll continue to highlight Canadian talent in the industry, and we’ll be as transparent as possible about countries of origin and how tariffs are affecting our prices.
As tariffs start to impact our inventory in earnest, you’ll see the following advisory appear on the affected items on our website:
TARIFFED PRODUCT - This product was imported under tariffs, which increased its import cost. We have increased our price for this item as a result, but only by the additional tariff cost; we do not profit from tariff fees.
We’re figuring out how best to communicate that in-store as well (perhaps some orange stickers?), but for now please feel free to ask us any questions about our inventory, as we're happy to help.
In the meantime, we’re grateful as always for your trust and support as we work through yet another global upheaval. It means more than we can say.