Border Giant Inc.
1112 Russell Street - Unit 1 P7B 5N2 Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

As a local Thunder Bay start-up, we’ve worked with the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre through a few of their business development programs that have helped us grow and succeed. In the very beginning, we were able to validate our business model through their Trail Blazer program. This course was specifically designed for early-stage startups to guide participants through the steps in determining whether the business idea is viable. This was a crucial step in setti...ng our business up for success. Even though most of the plans we made were put on pause during COVID, the work we did with the NOIC ensured the foundations of Border Giant were strong enough that we could pivot the entire service and still be here today. If you are a local start-up, you can learn about all the different resources available to you through the NOIC here: https://www.nwoinnovation.ca/we-can-help Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre

Happy Halloween from the Border Giant team!

Meet Kate Strange of Waxxed Candle Co! Kate had been into her craft for about 2.5 years, but it wasn’t til the last year and a half that her passion hobby became a business. Kate sources her candle materials locally wherever she can, but there are some ingredients that make her product stand out that cannot be bought in Canada. She was one of Border Giant’s beta testers in the beginning and started off with just 1 box of the hard-to-get coconut wax that makes her candles... unique in the market. Now as her business grows, we help Kate bring in wax by the pallet and also recently imported a new wax machine that was unavailable in Canada. It would be difficult and time consuming to do this without them. Importing and exporting is intimidating, but the team at Border Giant isn’t intimidating at all! We’ve gotten to know each other through business and they’ve become so much more than just import export guys. They make everything easy and so convenientI never feel like just another customer. We help businesses save time & money on importing and exporting. Tag a business below that could use our help! Waxxed candle co

It was recently small business week in Thunder Bay and we are reflecting on all the support we have received in our journey from organizations such as the NOIC, CEDC, NOHFC, Thunder Bay Ventures, TB Chamber of Commerce, Futurepreneur, FedNOR and even PARO. The Co-Starter program by NOIC was one of the most impactful programs that got us started and vaulted into success. Using the resources, tools, and access to more investors, we built a strong enough foundation that saw us... through the COVID closure of the border that could have devastated our business. We’ve been able to pivot, offer a valuable border pick-up service to the people and businesses of Thunder Bay and now we are getting back to our original technology-based business model. If you are or know someone who has a small business, check out some of these great resources available! There is a number of helpful on-demand webinars like How to get a business loan in a few easy steps here http://ow.ly/3nUG50GvCrT and Economic outlook: What’s next for your business? where you can discover major trends shaping the economy here http://ow.ly/gkrf50GvCs6 If you’re a student or recent grad within 3 years with a business idea, consider entering the Pitch It competition for a chance to win $1000 or $500 cash! Deadline is October 29th. http://ow.ly/MGm450GvCrX Teleco is hosting a Hacktober Cybersecurity webinar to help small business protect themselves from hackers, phishing scams and more: https://mailchi.mp/teleco/hacktober-webinar Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre Thunder Bay CEDC Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce PARO Centre Thunder Bay Ventures

We’ve been nominated! We’re very excited and thrilled to be nominated for an award in the 2021 RBC Innovation Awards. This is the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre’s way of honouring and celebrating all of the innovative people, companies and projects in our region. We’ve been working with organizations like the NOIC since day one and they have helped us evolve, adapt and thrive even during a global pandemic where the border closures could have devastated our core busi...ness. It has been a wild journey for us over the last few years. We’re definitely stronger and more resilient for it and we’re grateful to have support from groups like the NOIC to help us continue to grow into the next phase of our business. Make sure you tune in Wednesday October 20th, on any of their social media channels to see who was nominated, and who the winners are! Pictured: James talking to the group about Border Giant during the Co-Starter program at the NWO Innovation Centre. Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre

Hey Everyone, We've received a few calls regarding whether we are operating during the lockdown. The answer to this is yes, we are! We have reduced the number of runs we are doing to the border, are not allowing anyone in the warehouse, and only have the minimum amount of staff necessary working from the office. ... Parcels can still be picked up from 8:00 to 4:30 M-F. Please park in the parking lot and call 807-286-2121 and one of our staff members will bring the parcel out to you.

Our office is closed for border runs and local pick-ups until January 4th. When we re-open on the 4th, we will do so observing the second-wave lockdown protocols. The changes in our procedures are as follows: General:... -Customers will no longer be allowed in the warehouse/office space -We strongly encourage customers to pay their invoices via E-transfer or cheque (we will still accept cash) Pick-up -All package pick-ups will be done via curbside drop-off by one of our staff -We ask that when you arrive at our warehouse, you park on the street and call us 807-285-1212 when you arrive. Drop-off -Please call us when you arrive at the warehouse 807-285-1212 and we will send a staff member out to retrieve your parcels from you. -If you are paying with cash, we ask you make your best effort to arrive with exact change. Outside of these changes, we do not anticipate service time delays relating to the lockdown. At this time, we are giving our best effort to fulfilling requests within 5-7 business days from the submission of the request (for those submitting requests while we are closed your submission is deemed to be made the day we re-open). As always, thanks for your continued support. -The Border Giant Team

December 21, 2020 There is still time to get your parcels here for Christmas Eve. If your parcels are at the border and you have the form completed and submitted by the end of the day today (December 21), we will have them ready for pickup at our Thunder Bay location Christmas Eve. Our holiday hours are available below:... December 24th - 8:00am to 2:00pm December 25th to January 4th - CLOSED -James

Still time to get your parcels here by Christmas! If your parcel is at the border and you have the request form submitted by the end of December 17th, we will have it ready for pickup in Thunder Bay before Christmas!

Another exciting job opportunity through our Youth Effect program to work with Border Giant Inc.. Apply Today! https://www.indeedjobs.com/border-gi//112142d470666c707459

Update: November 2nd 2020 We have been making excellent gains on our turnaround time, essentially cutting it to half of what it was during the initial stages of operation. At this point we have cleared the initial influx of pickup requests that came in the first week that the form was live. In the last two months we have made great progress in our turnaround times, and have identified most of the areas that have been causing bottlenecks in the import processing.... For the next week, the intake form will be offline for new pickup requests. We will be tweaking it to address some of the known issues and to ensure that it can be completed fully with no missing information. We hope to have it back up for new requests by Monday the 9th This won't effect the requests that have already been submit. The remaining parcels in queue will be processed as usual. Thanks to everyone who has been working with us and supporting us as we keep building this system. Like many companies, the pandemic put us in a position where we had to change the nature of our business quickly and drastically in order to adapt. The system at launch was rough, but as it turns out, it works. We are now bringing on resources to improve the efficiency, add features and make this company viable for the long term. Thanks again for your patience and support. James

Big shoutout to Ian Kaufman of tbnewswatch for this awesome article! https://www.tbnewswatch.com//new-company-offers-cross-bord

Check out this article written by CBC about Border Giant! https://www.cbc.ca//thunder-bay-company-packages-states-1.

Our request form is now live at BorderGiant.com . It seems to be working as we have a couple of successful submissions. I'll be online until at least the second period of the Vancouver game so if anyone has any issues, please comment here. There will likely be a need for a few workarounds needed in the first week or so. -James

Border Giant has officially opened our doors to the public! We understand there are quite a few questions surrounding what we do. Please refer to our website for more information. If you still have a question regarding our business, please comment here and we will respond. Thanks for your continued support!