Merchants At CNE Grounds Proven To Be Plastic-Friendly

In our last blog, we reported that food vendors inside the Food Building at Toronto’s Canadian National Exhibition, this year, still seem to be resistant to the idea of accepting credit cards and debit cards as methods of payment. Noticeably, most vendors have “cash only” signs displayed at their locations within the building to tell the buying public that they’re not all that plastic-friendly just yet.

This has disappointed many visitors of the CNE although it hasn’t created much of a shortage by way of hungry customers. Naturally, people have to eat. And eating a variety of unique and interesting foodstuffs is actually a huge part of the CNE-visiting experience. When going to The Ex – which the annual event is also known as – most people think to bring cash with them anyways.

This is because of the perception that the vendors on the grounds of the CNE don’t accept plastic. That, however, is not the case. In fact, as one of our colleagues pointed out for us, earlier this week, many food vendors outside of the Food Building are displaying signs that reveal the Visa, MasterCard and Interac logos. Evidently, not everyone is on board with the “cash only” approach.

As well, there is a noticeable difference between the vendors in the Food Building and the merchants located in the Direct Energy Centre. As part of The Ex’s annual tradition, this particular building, which is located beside the Ricoh Coliseum, becomes home to a wide array of business owners who present their products and services to the public at their own specific booths. Noticeably, it’s a much more plastic-friendly environment.

“I noticed a lot more people in the Direct Energy Centre were accepting cards,” commented our colleague, who visited The Ex this past Sunday, “It just made sense to me. What these people have to sell is generally more expensive than the food, so I guess they figured they better accept cards or most people won’t be able to buy.” That perspective certainly makes sense to us. One of the top benefits of using credit cards is the ability to afford big ticket items.

Plastic acceptance is also something that has seemed to gain huge favour with younger entrepreneurs. This was evidenced by one business in particular, which is owned and run by Scarborough’s Charlene Drakes. Vanish My Waist offers predominantly female customers fitted corsets (or “cinchers”) that work to thin waistlines by drawing in the area of the torso that they cover. Currently being sold at The Ex for a special price of $60, the products are selling amazingly!

One of the factors that has contributed to the sale of the Vanish My Waist cinchers is the fact that Interac is accepted as a method of payment. Drakes’ partner Ronell Casey-Nestor made mention of the fact that it has encouraged people to buy, since having available cash on hand isn’t necessary to complete a purchase. Canadian POS Corporation has endeavoured to interview Vanish My Waist for more input on the benefits of accepting Interac at The Ex this year.

Be sure to stay tuned to the Canadian POS Corporation Blog for that piece. In the meantime, you may want to consider all of the benefits that accepting plastic can bring to your business. Whether you choose to use a Countertop terminal at your main place of business or invest in a Wireless terminal so that you may accept payments at remote locations, we can help you! Be sure to call us at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.