Historical inflation in the United States, the expensive dollar and the pandemic have discouraged Chihuahuans to cross the border to make their purchases in the passage.
Patricia Rodríguez attended this weekend shopping at El Paso after more than a year of not doing so when the border was closed.
The goal was to go for Christmas gifts and clothing for her and her daughters, however, her enthusiasm became discouragement when everything was much more expensive.
“It is no longer the same, everything is very expensive and there is very little clothes in the stores, before I found for example pants for my daughters up to 7 or 8 dollars, maximum 10, and now there was only one couple of styles, but between 14and 18 dollars, ”he said.
Something similar happened to Viviana Herrera.He said he saved for months to go shopping at El Paso as soon as the bridges open.However, when going this Saturday for Christmas gifts and more personal items, he was surprised with how faces he found things.
"I found everything more expensive.There are few things and more expensive.I really didn't find what I wanted and I didn't spend my money.I just bought little and the rest I left to buy in Juarez.It is true that in the pass there are things of greater quality, but right now, with the expensive, one no longer reaches one as before ”.
Until two years ago, Liliana Herrera also used to go every 15 days to buy clothes or shoes from Ross, very popular store among border for their low prices.
However, with an exchange rate at 21 pesos per dollar, he said that he prefers today to avoid the traffic of international bridges and make their purchases on this side of the border, where the cost of the same items is similar.
In addition, because he lost a relative because of COVID-19 in the second wave of last year, he said he prefers not to expose himself to infections, because in his only visit to El Paso since they opened the international bridges, he noticed that there are fewThe people who use covers there.
“I was surprised to see how people walk without cover as if nothing.Not even to enter the store they ask you and much less respect the healthy distance.Things either cost the same before the pandemic and everything is very scarce.It is not worth risking, ”he said.
Carmen Gutiérrez, another border, said that despite the reopening of borders, he has chosen to buy in Juarez, due to the exchange rate and pandemic.
The woman stressed that she also used to load gasoline in El Paso, where before the pandemic it cost a little less than two dollars, but today it exceeds the three.
"Just as the Caro dollar is the same thing, the same is bought here in Juarez and you save line on the bridges," he said.
As for the influx of people in stores and crossing time, he commented that it seemed less than years before the pandemic, because only on the bridge took an hour and a half, of the more than four he waited for example in2019.
The price increase in the United States reached 6.8 percent last November compared to the same month of 2020, historical figure in 39 years.
"In the United States we no longer achieve the same prices before pandemic, especially in construction materials," said Rogelio Ramos Guevara, president of the National Chamber of Commerce.
In spite.
He affirmed that during the time that the border was closed, local trade had been benefited by not escaping consumers.
"I would not say that it is a leak, rather they are customs that the premises have to buy there things that do not find here, especially the electric, that there is very advanced," he said.
"Also clothing and footwear are other items that people buy the most because there is much greater variety," he added.
However, given Christmas proximity, city shopping centers look more influx of people in search of Santa Claus gifts.
igonzalez@writing.daily.com.mx
