Alicia Nicholson has spent this year watching the same storms roll through.
She’s the owner of Upfront Cosmetics, a small business launched in 2019 based in Nackawic. At the height of its success, Upfront’s products could be found in nearly 600 stores across North America, with U.S. exports accounting for between 30 and 50 per cent of business.
As Nicholson grew her business — pausing U.S. orders after the first round of tariffs, recalibrating and then re-entering the market — her husband, Troy, helped support their family by working at the town’s pulp mill, stepping in to help with Upfront on his days off as Nicholson navigated the tragic death of one her employees. In short, they made it work.
Stage left, enter more tariffs. Stage right, enter layoffs.
Nackawic’s pulp mill will cease operations on Nov. 4, putting an estimated 350 employees out of work. It’s not the first time the town has been devastated in this way: in 2004, the St. Anne-Nackawic mill also closed.
“Now, we are facing that same storm,” Nicholson said. “Our sales are down, U.S. orders are closed, and Troy is losing his job as our household’s primary financial provider.”
Nackawic mill owner may be ‘tapping out,’ minister says
Premier Susan Holt has publicly committed to supporting the laid-off mill workers, but her government has not revealed further details. CBC News has requested an update.
After the United States instigated a trade war with Canada in 2025, Nicholson stopped taking U.S. orders for a few months. Her team figured out how to comply with new rules — not that they were always honoured, in her experience.
“I’ve seen everything from our shampoo bars being tariffed as minivan parts from Russia to aluminum and steel,” she said.
Premier Susan Holt has pledged support for the employees facing layoffs at the Nackawic pulp mill. (Ian Curran/CBC)
This fall, however, President Donald Trump put tariffs on cosmetics and personal care products coming out of Canada, and now Nicholson only has one pivot left in her: the domestic market. Without her husband’s income, she needs to sell as much as she can in Canada.
If not, she will close the business she spent almost a decade building.
“We won’t have a choice. Our family will be forced to move, and they really don’t want to.”
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The European market isn’t a feasible option right now, she said. Breaking into the U.S. cost her hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Going to those trade shows, building that market, the logistical and financial and the time constraints to expand into a new market, it’s just not something you can do overnight.”
Nicholson said she’s spreading the word on social media and plans to be at several Christmas markets this year to try and recoup some of her lost sales.
“Really, our best path forward right now is to try to grow our Canadian sales space.”
