HOULTON — A weakening Canadian dollar, which fell Wednesday to its lowest point against the U.S. dollar in six years, has Maine businesses along the border seeing a dip in Canadian shoppers.

Nicknamed the “loonie” because of the loon imprinted on the face of its $1 coin, the Canadian dollar plunged to as low as 77.34 cents U.S. Wednesday after the Bank of Canada cut a key interest rate and lowered its forecast for the economy, according to the Chronicle Herald. It was the lowest the loonie has dropped since March 2009, when Canada was in the midst of a deep recession.

“We have seen a customer count drop in our Aroostook County stores that we believe is related to Canadian business,” said Craig Burgess, general manager of the Marden’s chain of surplus and salvage stores. “Based on discussion that our store staff are having with Canadian customers, they are expressing that the weak Canadian exchange rate is reducing the frequency of their shopping trips and the amount they purchase.”

Ethel Donovan, a Woodstock, New Brunswick, resident who was shopping at the Houlton Marden’s on Monday, said that she pays attention to the exchange rate and also carefully combs catalogs, watches sale fliers and clips coupons to get the best deals.

“If I see that a store here in Houlton has a better deal on something I need and I have a coupon to make the deal even better, it is no trouble to drive over and get it despite the exchange rate,” she said.

Cross-border shopping is common in boundary communities such as Houlton, Van Buren, Madawaska and Fort Kent, where a trip through the port of entry or across an international bridge can often find consumers better deals on groceries or clothing or access to cheaper medication or veterinary care for a pet.

While there was a steady stream of Canadian license plates still coming across the border in Houlton on Tuesday, a spokesperson with U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that in general, traffic at ports of entry in Maine has been down this year.

Michelle Benson Fuller said that from January to May, traffic levels for the Houlton port of entry were down 19 percent compared with this time last year.

Canada is the world’s fifth-largest producer of oil and a steep slump in the fuel’s price over the last year has led to falling revenues at energy firms and helped push the country’s currency down, according to the Reuters news agency.

The declining value of the loonie has “absolutely” affected business at the Fort Kent-based Paradis Shop ’n Save, according to co-owner-manager Kathy Roy.

When interviewed in January, Roy said the store had started seeing fewer Canadian customers about three months earlier.

On Tuesday, she said the problem had only grown worse, with even fewer Canadian shoppers coming into the store in the ensuing months.

Craig Paradis, the retail company’s treasurer, said Wednesday that between 20 and 25 percent of the store’s customer base comes from across the border, down between 5 and 10 percent from a year ago.

“This will impact any border community,” Roy said.

At Roy Auto Parts NAPA in Fort Kent, counterperson Kassey Michaud estimates about 10 percent of business comes from across the border.

“We are seeing a little less cross-border traffic right now,” Michaud said Wednesday morning. “A lot of our customers check the exchange rate and check our prices and for some things, it’s still a better deal for them here.”

At Saucier’s IGA in Van Buren, co-owner Dedra Lizotte said this week she was experiencing a drop in Canadian customers.

“It certainly has made an impact, but in the summer, business always picks up with the festivals and things,” she said. “After that, we will look at the business and see if we need to restructure.”

In Houlton, Jane Torres, executive director of the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday that she was not aware of any downtown businesses having any problems with fewer customers because of the exchange rate.

But she stressed that Canadian visitors typically come across to buy cheaper gasoline or eat out. Even accounting for the exchange rate, Canadians could save about 85 cents per gallon by shopping for gasoline at an Irving station in Houlton on Wednesday, where the price was $2.83 U.S. per gallon, compared with an Irving across the border in Woodstock, New Brunswick, where the price was $1.19 Canadian per liter.

“The downtown businesses do not tend to see many Canadian customers, (who) really stick to the gas stations and restaurants,” Torres said, “and I have not heard anything about that from them, really.”

Carol Bouchard, a resident of St. Francois, New Brunswick, who works in Fort Kent, brought U.S. dollars with her to shop at the Fort Kent NAPA store Wednesday.

“If I was using Canadian money I would not be saving much,” she said. “But it’s worth it to come here and not have to drive all the way to Edmundston (New Brunswick).”

Camilla Barnes, a resident of Bedell, New Brunswick, was staying with family for a week at a camp on East Grand Lake in Weston, Maine, and was on a shopping trip with friends in Houlton. She said she also pays attention to the exchange rate, but seizes deals in the U.S. when they are better than what she could find in Canada.

“I think that is just what any smart shopper does, isn’t it?” she said with a grin.