A Toronto woman says her efforts to send air mattresses to Georgia in support of Hurricane Irma evacuees failed after a Canadian Tire store refused to sell her and her husband their inventory.
“Although they had 190 in stock and agreed they had 190, they said they had a maximum (to sell) of 10 per person,” said Cheryl Basser.
Basser described herself as part of an orthodox Jewish community in Toronto with connections to a synagogue in Atlanta.
“They have 1,000 evacuees but there’s no possibility of having enough beds,” she told Global News from Southfield, Michigan.
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Basser said her husband secured a truck to take more than 300 inflatable mattresses to Georgia based on the belief that the Canadian Tire store on Queen Street East in Brampton would sell them the balance of their inventory, advertised in the weekly flyer. The mattresses were listed for sale at $60.
But upon arriving at the store, Basser said her husband was told by a manager that the store would sell no more than 10 air mattresses, although later the number was raised to 30.
“We explained it was for a humanitarian cause. We weren’t looking for a discount, we weren’t looking for a donation,” she said.
Global News contacted the store but did not receive a response. But Canadian Tire’s corporate headquarters issued a statement which read in part:
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“As a company with strong roots in communities across Canada, we understand the urgency to provide support to those impacted by natural disasters. We have been in contact with the customer supporting the hurricane evacuation relief efforts and we are working together to provide the equipment needed. We commend their efforts to help our U.S. neighbours impacted by the hurricane.”
The company did not offer an explanation for what happened at the store.
But within hours, Basser said she received urgent emails from Canadian Tire. A senior executive agreed to ship 226 air mattresses to Georgia to support the relief.
Basser said Canadian Tire agreed to cover all costs for the mattresses and the shipping, a value of more than $20,000.
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