Boycott of American retailers is tomorrow. Are you taking part?

Andre Blanleil is still hopeful US President Donald Trump will come to his senses.

"I'm an optimist, so I really do wish Trump would back down from his tariff and 51st state threats," said the owner of Andre's Electronic Experts, which has 33 stores in 22 communities throughout the Interior.

"Tariffs will hurt everyone. They aren't good for either Canadians or Americans."

In the meantime, Blanleil is fully supporting tomorrow's Boycott Day -- the viral online campaign turned grassroots movement.

Boycott Day, which is also being called Economic Blackout Day and Retail Blackout Day, urges Canadians to not buy a single thing at big US retailers on Feb. 28.

The main names being bandied about for boycott are Amazon, Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, Best Buy, Staples, Gap, McDonalds and Toys R Us.

Photo credit: NowMedia Group file
Andre Blanleil in one of his Andre's Electronic Experts stores with his sons.

Amazon is already the target of a boycott for selling hats, t-shirts, flags and stickers that tout Canada as the 51st state.

The boycott not only means no shopping at the bricks and mortar stores of these retailers, but no online shopping either.

"I totally support this," said Blanleil, whose retail empire includes 16 full-service Andre's stores and 15 Telus Cellular stores.

"Hopefully these (boycotted) retailers can put pressure on the Trump administration to stop this craziness."

Blanleil said shoppers in the Interior have lots of options to shop local and buy Canadian.

For instance, you can shop Andre's Electronic Experts because it's locally owned and operated and carries mostly Asian brands such as Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Sony and JVC.

Andre's also sells American brands such as KitchenAid, Whirlpool and Maytag.

So, stay away from those brands if you're in a boycott mood.

There's also a myriad of other Canadian retailers you can support, with either in-person or online shopping.

For example, Rona, Shoppers Drug Mart, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, Sport Chek and Dollarama and grocery stores from Save-On Foods, Real Canadian Superstore, Your Independent Grocer and No Frills to Nesters, Choices, IGA and Urban Fare.

Some of the big American retailers that are targets of the boycott.

"Just support Canadian products and companies," said Blanleil.

"We can't out-tariff the US, but we can send a message with this boycott and by shopping Canadian. It's not us who started this battle."

Trump tariffs of 25% on all Canadian goods (10% for energy products) exported to the US could go into effect March 4.

His Canada-should-be-the-51st-state rhetoric is constant.

Mark Burley, the executive director of the Downtown Kelowna Association, urges people to shop local and buy local at the many small, independent retailers downtown.

But, he also points out that Boycott Day will target American chains where Kelowna people work, so they could be hurt.

Canada's Boycott Day of American retailers is actually a piggyback off The People's Union USA Retail Blackout Day for Americans to boycott stores on Feb. 28 that have scaled back their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives prompted by Trump's so-called war on DEI.

Consumer boycotts get lots of social media buzz and attracts traditional media attention as well.

However, such boycotts generally don't get more than 10% consumer participation.

As such, Trump is unlikely to notice, care or change.

To really be effective boycotts have to involve most consumers long-term.