Multiple retailers and numerous other businesses in the US lost a huge territory of customers, around Spring 2020 when the US-Mexico border was shut down caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Georgia Flores still awaits them to come back.
Various other establishments, retail, and restaurants are boomeranging back to operations all across the US as the ratio of vaccinated people are increasing in number and as COVID restrictions ease. There is still no change for the people who have their businesses along the southern border as their customers still remain prohibited to enter the country due to travel bans.
For instance, Ms. Flore’s store, Novedades Yeya’s, is a few blocks past the Paso del Norte port entry in downtown El Paso, is still not able to operate fully. She reports that approximately 90% of her customers were Mexican citizens who crossed the border regularly to either eat or visit their families from the Ciudad Juárez.
Business owners, employees, and Ms. Flore’s comment, “Now, the stretch of South El Paso Street where Ms. Flores’s shop is located sees fewer border crossers than in pre-pandemic times, and further away from the port, foot traffic is sparser.”
Bottom Line: Due to restrictions on unimportant travels from Southern California to Texas, businesses are still at a slump while rebounds are seen in other parts of the US.
