Image:File FNS

August 7, 2005

Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua News

Shopping in the Age of Imported Icons

Long lines of Ciudad Juarez motorists and pedestrians jammed the Santa Fe bridge to El Paso, Texas, this past weekend to take advantage of bargain shopping on the U.S. side. Lured by the state of Texas’ 7th annual sales tax holiday, shoppers crowded downtown El Paso stores and outlying malls in search of inexpensive clothing and school supplies. Juarenses traveling 45 minutes farther away to stores in Las Cruces, New Mexico, also found a tax-free retail scene, and perhaps along the way they heard the voice of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on the radio touting New Mexico’s first-ever sales tax holiday weekend. In contrast, many stores in the downtown Juarez shopping district were virtually empty.

Like thousands of other Juarez residents, Manuel Vazquez tolerated the long wait to pass through U.S. customs and immigration. “One has to find the way to save and see variety and quality,” said Vazquez. Budget-minded El Paso resident Jorge Lopez expressed similar sentiments at the busy Cielo Vista Mall in the border city. “For me it’s just a few bucks, but for some people a few bucks can make a difference because they have four to six kids. I just have two,” said Lopez. Texas shoppers were expected to save more than $47 million dollars in state and local sales taxes.

Thanks to Juarez consumers, some El Paso businesses reported a dramatic leap in sales during the sales tax holiday weekend. Salvador Dominguez, an employee of the Princesa store, said more people were on the streets and business was up 60 percent compared to last year’s sales tax holiday, even with the peso buying fewer dollars. Dominguez named notebooks, pencils, erasers and other school- related merchandise as popular sellers.

Filing in and out of stores, shoppers also encountered a burgeoning inventory of cheap goods bearing Mexican icons but which are manufactured in Asia. Standing out are statuettes of Juan Diego and the Virgin of Guadalupe, Aztec calendars, national emblems, and caps with sports teams’ names like the Guadalajara Chivas. The iconic merchandise is made in China or Vietnam. One retail employee said traditional covers once made in Aguascalientes, Mexico, are now imported from the Far East. “The Chinese copied them, and now they also make them,” said the employee.

While Mexican products are being nudged out at home by foreign imports, government and business circles are trying to find markets for their goods abroad. Toward this end, Chihuahua state officials recently met with members of the chambers of commerce of Costa Rica and Panama to discuss sending products from Ciudad Juarez and other cities to Central America. Hector Valles Alvelais, the Chihuahua secretary of commercial development and tourism, said the administration of Governor Jose Reyes Baeza is especially interested in using exports as a growth strategy for medium and small-sized businesses. The Reyes administration is proposing new Central American markets for wood moldings, dried meat, chile, salsa, arts and crafts, candies, cheese, tortillas, and traditional clothing, all produced in Chihuahua.

Sources:
Norte, August 7, 2005. Articles by Cesar Ruiz.
El Paso Times, August 6, 2005. Article by Darren Meritz.
Norte, August 6, 2005. Article by Angel Zubia Garcia.

Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

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