Luis Gutierrez

"I had purchased some clothes in Tijuana that were supposed to come from San Ysidro via Facebook Marketplace...."

The re-opening of the border brought back the binational economy, especially in the U.S. due to lifting restrictions for tourists with visas. Even though Covid hasn't let up yet, Tijuana citizens still chose to take the Black Friday specials in the U.S. than buying in their city, despite the the Mexican version of Black Friday called El Buen Fin.

Ruth Perez claimed she waited for the border re-opening for the good prices on diabetes supplies. “As a mother I wanted to buy clothing for my children; I had purchased some in Tijuana that was supposed to come from San Ysidro via Facebook Marketplace, but my daughter got a skin problem even though the seller assured me it was brand new. As a person with diabetes I needed to buy insulin syringes and other medical supplies because they're cheaper there.”

"I’ll wait till Monday when special offers remain."

Luis Gutierrez

Before the pandemic she was spending $20 USD for one set of clothing for her daughter in San Ysidro, but during the restriction she spent three times that amount of money on the same set in Tijuana.

Fabiola Quintero was waiting the reopening of the border and the reestablishing of the cross border life.

“I won’t go on the exact day of Black Friday due to my work, but I’ll wait till Monday when special offers remain and you can even find better prices.”

"The income that San Ysidro gets always comes back."

Luis Gutierrez

Julian Palomino, who’s the president of the Merchants Association of the Revolution Ave., pointed out that at the beginning they thought Black Friday offers would hurt them directly, but this year their economic recovery has increased. According to him, “El Buen Fin” gets more clients from the U.S. than locals, because the products they offer are made in Mexico, which are the products that Mexicans living in the U.S. are looking to buy.

“We are gladly surprised that the competition between Tijuana and San Ysidro did not affect us and actually, the return in the binational economic dynamics in this region has benefited both sides of the border. The income that San Ysidro gets always comes back through those customers in the other side that like to come and spend in our city. We understand that some imported products are more expensive here due to federal fees, but in the end they would pay that tax in the border when they are coming back to Tijuana."