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Border Waits Hamper Tijuana's Holiday Sales

Tijuana's loss is San Diego's gain when it comes to holiday shopping. Even so, officials with San Ysidro's Chamber of Commerce says long border waits hamper holiday sales. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson h

Border Waits Hamper Tijuana's Holiday Sales

Tijuana's loss is San Diego's gain when it comes to holiday shopping. Even so, officials with San Ysidro's Chamber of Commerce says long border waits hamper holiday sales. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has the story.

This holiday season, lines some 400-cars long have moved slow as molasses through the San Ysidro border crossing.

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Two days before Christmas, 3,000 people waited three hours to cross on foot. Officials with Tijuana's Chamber of Commerce says this shopping exodus is a microcosm of what's happened in Tijuana all year. They say the city has lost about  400-million in sales and can't compete with San Diego.

Jason Wells directs San Ysidro's Chamber of Commerce.

He says sales grew 20-percent during black Friday, the most recent period for which he has statistics. However,

Wells: We're still not selling what we were in 1985 or 1995. We're making due with a terrible, terrible situation.

A SANDAG study in 2005 found a 45 minute border wait meant the region lost $6 billion in revenue.

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Border waits this holiday season have routinely exceeded two hours.

Amy Isackson, KPBS News.