Laredo, Texas — After nearly 20 months of border restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this city and Texas have a message for Mexican visitors and tourists: “Welcome back!”

The reopening of the US-Mexico border beginning November 8th for people with non-essential travel comes just at the start of the sales season leading up to the holiday season .

“Welcome back to Laredo!” says a giant screen on the international line. "We've missed you!". “Welcome back to Laredo! We miss you!".

A few days before reopening, these businesses have prepared promotions, music festivals and discounts to attract customers residing south of the Rio Grande.

“We have prepared with great enthusiasm for our Mexican customers to return to buy in our stores because we have missed them so much,” said Érica Contreras, Marketing Director of The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo, a shopping center next to one of the three international bridges that connect this city with Nuevo Laredo, on the Mexican side.

In that outlet alone, Mexican customers who cross the border with tourist visas represent 95% of their sales. People can walk by and take their bags back to Mexico.

“It was difficult to keep up (during the travel restrictions) but we hope to emerge stronger in the coming weeks as traffic returns to normal,” said Contreras. "We are waiting for you with open arms."

María Guadalupe López is one of the people who traveled from Monterrey over the weekend to visit her family and do some shopping in Laredo.

“Before the pandemic I came every month and now it's the first time it's happened since 2020,” she said, after shopping at the outlet. "I think it's great that they've already opened again because coming here (Laredo) is something natural for us, we do it all the time."

Mexico is the main economic partner of Texas, not only because of its large exports, but also because of the visit of hundreds of thousands of Mexicans who cross the border on foot, by car or by bus to go shopping in some cities of the corridor Interstate 35, such as Laredo, San Antonio, San Marcos, Austin, or Dallas.

“Along the Texas-Mexico border, more than 230,000 people cross the ports of entry into the United States every day to work, study, shop, go on vacation or dine at local restaurants,” said José Iván Rodríguez, a researcher at the Center for the United States and Mexico at the Baker Institute at Rice University, in an analysis of the consequences of the border closure. “Most of these people are Mexicans, who represent an important source of business for the Texas border counties.”

The economic losses during the nearly 20 months of the partial border closure were in the billions of dollars for Texas.

Mexican shoppers travel to the United States to buy basic necessities at stores like Walmart or Target; discount clothing at stores like Ross or Burlington; but also to purchase clothing and items from luxury brands such as Michael Kors, Prada or Gucci. They do it because the price is more accessible, even in dollars, and because the quality of the products is better and more durable, they agree.

The cities of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo want to once again resume the dynamics of a binational zone that had a life of its own until March 2020, when restrictions were imposed at the border.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authorities had warned that in the first days the lines to cross into the United States could present long hours of waiting, which did not happen last weekend .

Everything indicates that the recovery will be gradual and may reach a significant peak in the coming weeks, with the December season.

“What we are doing is making sure that the Mexicans come and spend their money here,” said Democratic representative Henry Cuéllar, the day the border reopened. "Before the pandemic, they came to spend $19 billion, so perhaps the United States has lost about $30 billion because the Mexicans were not coming."

On the first weekend of the reopening of the border, the parking lots of shopping centers, outlets and restaurants seemed more crowded than the previous weekend and although not all the customers were Mexican, the employees of all the places agreed in that it was evident that more foreign clients were beginning to arrive.

In the center of the city, where dozens of shops are closed, it seems that the recovery will take longer.

“Many businesses were affected, especially those that depended on Mexican buyers, especially in downtown Laredo,” said Pete Sáenz, the city's mayor during the welcome-back ceremony for Laredo. international travelers. “From a local perspective, 30-40% of sales tax comes from Mexican shoppers who visit our community year-round.”

For Gerald Schwebel, executive vice president of the International Corporate Division at IBC Bank, the last 20 months have devastated entire areas of the border with Mexico, so the United States must welcome those who Come for non-essential purposes.

“The Mexican buyer has been an integral part of the economic vitality of Texas border communities,” said Schwebel. “Those who live and work on the border say we are 'one city in two countries,' because we share many common ties of family, culture and business.”

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From very early on, María Dolores Alemán left her home in Nuevo Laredo to cross with her four daughters to Laredo and visit the stores where she went regularly until before the pandemic.

“We want to go buy a lot of things. We did get very excited when they said they were going to open and we spent many days thinking about where we were going to go,” said Aleman. "It's that here things are cheaper and better, they last longer, like school shoes or clothes."

Mexicans who cross the Rio Grande to shop in the United States pay an average of $20.20 pesos for every dollar, which makes the trip somewhat onerous for Mexican families. Even so, the lower price and the quality of the products make it worth the trip.

“Yes, more people have come, but not so many because there is no money in Mexico,” said Carmen Reyes, manager of a jewelry store in downtown Laredo. "Even though people want to go, if they don't have what to spend, they can't come, there's no way."

Through the streets of downtown Laredo, dozens of closed businesses are the most common scenario. There are streets where the city looks like a ghost town.

The abandonment is evident after months of border restrictions due to the pandemic. Where there used to be dresses or electronics on display, now there are only drawn curtains or boarded-up glass.

“Here we have had to live through everything, from devaluations, but nothing like this has ever hit us,” said Martha Castillo, a worker at a sundries store that is a few meters from the international line. "I think that right now the situation has not evened out, we are still in crisis, but she is already going to get up."

Stores large and small that are still in business have had to devise strategies to attract their customers.

In the outlets and shopping centers, music festivals are held and discount coupons are given to Mexicans who visit the stores, something unusual in this type of establishment.

“There are a lot more people now than in the past few weeks, the fact that they opened the border did make a difference,” said María Olivares, manager of a craft business at The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo. "My sales have gone up, like people are very excited that they already wanted to come and buy and spend their money."

Travellers most likely to venture into Texas often shop at the Tanger Outlet San Marcos and San Marcos Premium Outlets, where you can purchase clothing and items from luxury brands.

Traveling to these outlets is something of a tradition among middle-class Mexicans from the northern states of Mexico, which border Texas.

Mexican shoppers make the trip in their own cars or in the vehicles of tour companies that organize trips in vans from cities like Monterrey, Monclova, Torreón or Saltillo to do luxury shopping in these stores.

Ivette de la Fuente came to these outlets, who made a six-hour road trip from Monterrey, hoping to resume the Christmas shopping ritual they had since before the pandemic.

“This is the Christmas shopping trip, before we used to come often and with the pandemic it was no longer possible,” he said. They just opened the bridge and we have to take advantage of it, so we already went to the stores and we stayed here all weekend”.

Along with her traveled Sergio Montañez, who said he had noticed that the economy of Texas continued to be active, while in Mexico it is more detained.

“Yes, the difference is noticeable, more than other times, in the economy of the two countries,” he said. "Here they are attracting consumers and it shows even on the line, because now they have become much more accessible."

In some brand stores like Coach or Gucci, some people lined up waiting their turn to enter. In the ranks, the Spanish language was the most heard when spoken.

“It's just that there isn't any of this in Mexico at this price,” said Ramiro Cuéllar, who traveled by car from Monterrey and was waiting his turn to enter the Coach store. "The truth is that we did need to come to buy clothes, because in Mexico good things are very, very expensive."

The San Marcos outlets were packed on Sunday, November 14, but although thousands of people visited these stores, further recovery is expected once Mexicans begin to make their trips there more frequently.

“I would venture to say that 98% of my customers are Mexican,” said Daniel Soriano, a store manager for Perfumes 4U, at Tanger Outlets San Marcos. "It has been very difficult to stay afloat, but we have succeeded and we are very happy and waiting for them with open arms."

Area merchants are also expecting the sales boom to kick off next week when the Black Friday sales kick off the 2021 holiday season.