"Euros Accepted Here"

Is America the new Canada?

That's the phrase which has been popping upon signs in the windows of many New York City retailers. With the severely weakened U.S. dollar, and waves of European tourists with money to burn, shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise.

While shops in many U.S. towns on the Canadian border have long accepted Canadian currency and some stores on the Texas-Mexico border take pesos, the acceptance of foreign money in Manhattan was unheard of until recently.

Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines, says,"We had decided that money is money and we'll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank. We didn't realize we would take so much in and there were that many people traveling or having euros to bring in. But some days, you'd be surprised at how many euros you get."