Cormier's Absence Triggers Carton Crisis

A monumental surplus of menthol cigarettes has brought operations at the Border Shop in Calais to a wheezing halt this week, following the abrupt cessation of cross-border travel by Nova Scotia’s own JP Cormier.

Cormier, a known menthol loyalist and frequent trans-border traveler, reportedly halted all trips to the U.S. in early March, citing rising tariffs and what he called “a distinct and unwelcome tone” from the newly elected American administration.

“He’d come in here, twice a month like clockwork,” said shop manager Brenda Gallant, gesturing to a towering wall of green-and-white cartons. “Hundreds of cartons at a time, sometimes more. You could set your watch to his car.”

Now, with pallets of minty smokes stacked floor to ceiling in what was once the souvenir T-shirt aisle, the Border Shop is teetering on economic disaster. The situation has been dubbed Menthol Mountain by staff, who are now navigating narrow, tobacco-flanked corridors to reach the register.

“It’s a logistics nightmare,” Gallant said. “We’ve got menthol in the break room, menthol in the mop closet. The staff lunch fridge is full of it. I lost my office to it last Tuesday.”s

According to internal projections, the store has enough menthol cigarette inventory to supply a small city through to 2028. With Cormier’s absence showing no signs of reversing, the financial fallout is deepening.

Sales have plunged 83%, forcing the store to reduce hours, furlough employees, and cancel plans for its much-hyped “Spring Ham Raffle.”

“We were counting on that raffle,” Gallant said grimly. “It was going to be spiral-cut.”

Cormier, when reached for comment, remained unmoved. “I won’t cross that border until they stop playing chicken with Canada,” he said from a deck chair at his studio. “And I’ve switched to herbal lozenges, so good luck to them.”

Economic analysts warn that unless a resolution is reached — or Cormier runs out of lozenges — the menthol stockpile could cause a ripple effect through the greater Calais-St. Stephen region, where cross-border tobacco arbitrage was once a quiet economic engine.

For now, Gallant and her skeleton crew continue the daily grind, opening the shop each morning under the shadow of Menthol Mountain, hoping one day they might find their way back to the light.