Few lines at local Ports of Entry on early Black Friday

JUAREZ, Chihuahua (KVIA) -- Local economic experts have predicted that this holiday season El Paso could see fewer residents coming from Mexico to shop than in previous years.

This may be due to recent changes in currency values on both sides of the border, fewer maquiladora and industry workers south of the border, and uncertain relations between Mexico and the U.S.

"Well, this year we'll probably see fewer holiday shoppers from Mexico as we did last year. Or if we could get the same number of shoppers, they would probably be making fewer purchases than they did last year," said UTEP Professor of Economics Tom Fullerton.

The Juárez and El Paso areas woke up a day after Thanksgiving with no wait times to cross to El Paso at some point.

In previous years, you would usually see longer lines because of Black Friday shopping - but that was not the case as of Friday morning.

Professor Fullerton also said another cause is that most holiday shopping has been moving to e-commerce platforms. In particular this year with the relatively late date of Thanksgiving, there are fewer shopping days before Christmas. By federal law, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.

"Anywhere between 8 and 14% of all retail sales in El Paso at any given point in time are to visitors from northern Mexico," Professor Fullerton added.

Complete story on how borderland shoppers behaved today and what wait times residents experienced tonight on ABC-7 after College Football and ABC-7 at 10.