The packaging line at South Shore's factory in Sainte-Croix, Que. The company announced on Monday it is shutting down its operations.Renaud Philippe/The Globe and Mail
South Shore Furniture, one of Canada’s major furniture makers, is shutting down operations as it buckles under trade pressure.
The Quebec-based company said it could not continue in the face of dumping by rivals from China and Vietnam, which has lowered prices. It also cited the effect of U.S. import tariffs, which have hurt its own sales into the country and redirected Asian exports slated for the U.S. to less restrictive markets like Canada.
“For Canadian manufacturers such as South Shore Furniture, demand has just simply vanished on both sides of the border,” the company said in a news release Monday. It said its own sales have dropped 77 per cent between 2022 and 2025.
The decision is yet more proof that U.S. President Donald Trump’s protectionist agenda is causing trade shifts that are cascading hard into many Canadian communities. In Sainte-Croix, Que., a town of 2,700 people southwest of Quebec City, South Shore is one of two major employers.
In depth: It took a village to build this Quebec furniture empire. The trade war is knocking it down
It’s also another hit to companies involved in wood-product manufacturing. Quebec’s Dorel Industries Inc. and B.C.’s Prepac Manufacturing both stopped making furniture in Canada last year, citing the need to reshape operations.
South Shore makes ready-to-assemble furniture, including dressers, beds, nightstands and bookshelves. The company, founded and owned by the Laflamme family, has been in business for 86 years.
The manufacturer said it will shut down its plants in Sainte-Croix and Coaticook, Que., gradually over the next several weeks. Its 126 employees were told of the decision Monday morning.
“This is an extremely difficult situation for our family and for our employees,” said Charles Laflamme, South Shore’s general manager. “We tried everything to maintain our operations and their jobs but it’s become impossible to pursue our business in a market where World Trade Organization rules are not respected.”
As the U.S. tightens access to imports, Asian countries have been increasing their shipments of low-cost furniture into Canada, selling them at prices even cheaper than in their domestic markets, according to Gilles Pelletier, chief executive of the Quebec Furniture Manufacturers Association. That amounts to a violation of WTO rules should it be proven.
Selling into the U.S. is also becoming more difficult, Mr. Pelletier said. Although South Shore’s products aren’t subject to any specific import tariffs at the moment, its goods, and those of other Canadian manufacturers, are losing lustre among some U.S. buyers, he said.
At a home furnishings industry trade show in High Point, N.C., last week, American manufacturers were playing up their “tariff-free furniture,” Mr. Pelletier said. The sheer unpredictability of the White House on trade has created “enormous confusion on where Canadian products stand,” he said. “And in the end, we’re being put in the same boat as China and Vietnam. That wasn’t the case before.”
At South Shore’s peak several years ago, the Sainte-Croix factory was buzzing with workers and the company spent millions modernizing its equipment, adding new robots and systems. More recently, the company has been forced to let some employees go. It also cut inventory drastically to improve cash flow and free up working capital.
Earlier this month, Ottawa launched a trade inquiry into several types of manufactured wood products with the aim of protecting domestic producers from a surge in foreign competition. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal will conduct an inquiry into the global imports of cabinets and vanities, solid and engineered wood flooring, and storage furniture.
South Shore informed its 126 employees on Monday of its decision to end operations.Renaud Philippe/The Globe and Mail
The Canadian Wood Products Alliance, an industry group that was established to lobby Ottawa for protection, is pushing for the federal government to immediately implement provisional tariffs on foreign-made goods entering Canada. It says that’s necessary to prevent a stockpiling of products in Canada and to avoid more layoffs in the coming months while the inquiry is going on.
“The investigation alone will not be sufficient to provide the immediate relief and stability our industry needs,” the group said in a statement Monday.
“The consequences for the industry are real, and they are already happening. Jobs have been lost, family-owned businesses have shut their doors, and communities are under increasing strain – and more will follow if Canadian manufacturers are forced to wait.”
Jean Laflamme, chairman of South Shore Furniture, said most of the raw materials going into the company’s furniture come from the Quebec wood industry.
“If we don’t protect that value chain, from the forest to the finished product, we will lose it for good,” Mr. Laflamme said in a statement Monday.
“I urge decision makers to seriously consider this reality, which risks causing further closures, and to act quickly using the legal tools at their disposal to help an entire ecosystem that supports tens of thousands of jobs.”