Walk into any of our 4 locations in Winnipeg & Toronto — no appointment needed.
Walk in anytime — bring a government-issued ID.
240 Graham Ave, Suite 290
Winnipeg, MB R3C 0J7
1225 St Mary's Rd, #26D
Winnipeg, MB R2M 5E5
St. Vital Mall (Beside Sport Chek)
120 Adelaide St W, #R7
Toronto, ON M5H 1T1
Richmond Adelaide Centre
4841 Yonge St, Unit 237D
Toronto, ON M2N 5X2
Yonge Sheppard Centre
We convert 78 currencies at rates guaranteed better than airport or hotel exchanges. 4 locations close to major hotels in Winnipeg and Toronto.
Our buy rates can be up to 2% higher than local banks, saving you the equivalent of a return flight home every year. Near U of T, York U, U of Winnipeg, and U of Manitoba.
Take advantage of CAD/USD fluctuations and exchange with Currency Mart instead of banks for a better return on your investment.
Banks profit 5% buying foreign currency from you. Currency Mart's average margin is only 1% — we offer better buy-in rates than any bank.
51+ currencies in stock daily. Unsatisfied with leftover currency? Return within 30 days and we'll buy back up to 30% at your original rate.
Mexican Peso, East Caribbean Dollar, Costa Rican Colón — in stock or available in 1–3 days. Better rates than hotel front desks.
Cash avoids the 2.5% credit card foreign transaction fee. Our USD rate is about 2% cheaper than major Canadian banks.
Up to 2% off the CAD/USD exchange rate vs banks — on a $500K property that's $10,000 in savings.
Five things that make a real difference on any meaningful amount.
Look up USD/CAD on Google or XE.com first. That's the interbank wholesale rate — your reference for what any dealer is actually charging.
Banks add 2–4% over mid-market. Currency exchange dealers typically charge 0.5–1.5%. On $3,000 USD that's $60–120 in your pocket.
Rates move on central bank decisions and economic news. If your exchange can wait, a short window of watching often helps.
Dealers offer tighter margins on larger amounts. One exchange of $5,000 gets a better rate than five separate exchanges of $1,000.
Currency Mart has 4 locations in Winnipeg and Toronto. Check the live rates, come in. Most exchanges take under 5 minutes.
Five simple steps from a place and time convenient for you.
Provide the requested information depending on account type (personal or corporate).
Upload a utility bill (personal) or annual return (corporate) to verify your address.
Your bank account number, 3-digit institution number, and 5-digit transit number.
Tell us how you'd like to pay and how you'd like to receive funds.
Fund settlement takes 1–5 business days. E-transfer is the fastest option to complete the transaction.
Currency exchange is legal in Canada. As an individual, you can buy, sell, or hold foreign currency without any special permit, and there are no restrictions on how much you can convert.
For businesses, any company that exchanges currency commercially must register with FINTRAC as a money services business. Currency Mart is a licensed money services business under FINTRAC registration M11432814.
A currency exchange rate tells you how much of one currency you get for another. USD/CAD = 1.38 means one US dollar costs 1.38 Canadian dollars.
At any currency exchange, you'll see two rates: the buy rate (what the dealer pays you for foreign currency) and the sell rate (what the dealer charges when you buy foreign currency). The gap between them is the spread — the dealer's margin.
Currency exchange converts one currency into another at the current exchange rate. You bring your currency to a provider (bank, currency exchange kiosk, or online platform), specify how much and to what currency, and receive the converted amount minus the dealer's spread.
The exchange rate fluctuates based on economic conditions, geopolitical events, and market demand. Comparing rates from different providers ensures you get the best deal.
Exchange rates are set by currency markets running 24 hours a day, five days a week. Interest rates set by central banks are one of the strongest drivers. When the Bank of Canada raises rates, money flows into Canada for better returns, pushing the dollar higher.
Trade flows, inflation, and unexpected news (jobs reports, elections, central bank statements) all move rates. The retail rate you see at a dealer is the mid-market rate plus the dealer's margin.
For most destinations, yes. Airport exchange booths charge 5–8% over mid-market. Hotel desks are similar. Exchanging at a dedicated currency dealer before you leave gives you time to compare rates without the pressure of a departing flight.
Currency Mart carries major currencies in stock at all 4 locations. The exception is countries where the local currency can't be purchased outside — in those cases, bring USD and exchange locally.
Multiply the amount you have by the exchange rate. If USD/CAD = 1.38 and you want to convert $500 USD, you receive $500 × 1.38 = $690 CAD.
Converting CAD to USD: divide instead — $1,000 CAD ÷ 1.38 = $724.64 USD. The retail rate includes a dealer margin, so your result will be slightly less than the raw math based on the mid-market rate.
These terms refer to the dealer's perspective. The buy rate is what the dealer pays when buying foreign currency from you. The sell rate is what the dealer charges when selling foreign currency to you.
Example: USD/CAD buy = 1.35, sell = 1.41. Bringing in USD gets you 1.35 CAD per dollar. Buying USD costs you 1.41 CAD per dollar. The 0.06 gap is the dealer's spread.
Check the mid-market rate on Google or XE.com first — that's your benchmark. Banks typically add 2–4% over mid-market; dedicated dealers charge 0.5–1.5%. On a $3,000 transaction that's $45–75 in real money.
Consolidate your exchange into one transaction (larger amounts get better margins) and watch the rate for a few days if timing is flexible.
There's no single best time that applies consistently. What matters more is watching the trend over a few days. Major scheduled events — Bank of Canada rate announcements, US jobs reports — often move rates noticeably. These are on a published economic calendar, so you can choose to act before or after them.
Currency exchange risk is the chance that a rate moves against you before you complete a transaction. For businesses, a 2% shift on a $100,000 invoice is $2,000 off the margin. For individuals, it shows up in travel budgets and property purchases abroad.
The main response is acting when the rate is acceptable rather than waiting for a perfect one that may never arrive.
We deal with more customers than banks (who only serve account holders), making our operation more efficient with lower average transaction costs. Our locations are optimized specifically for currency exchange — downtown cores and shopping centres with high demand — unlike banks spread across all neighbourhoods.
Yes. FINTRAC issued our currency exchange business license (renewed every two years). Our license No. is M11432814. Verify at the FINTRAC website. We have four registered locations: Winnipeg Downtown, Winnipeg St. Vital, Toronto Downtown PATH, and Toronto North York.
Currency Mart has no limit for currency exchange — customers can exchange any amount. However, debit card daily limits (typically $500–$3,000) and bank cash withdrawal limits ($3,000/day for most branches) may apply depending on your bank.
Foreign currency coins are too heavy to ship internationally, and security shipping costs can easily exceed the value of the coins. This is standard practice across virtually all currency exchange dealers globally — not just Currency Mart.
Yes and no. We can directly convert foreign currencies to US dollars, and from USD to other foreign currencies — without first converting to CAD. For other cross-currency pairs (non-USD), a CAD conversion step is required, which is standard in the industry.