With the border now open to nonessential travel, Arizona motorists could start to see more trucks laden with used goods heading back to Sonora.
Sonoran tianguistas are common sights at Arizona yard sales and swap meets, where they stock up on used merchandise to resell back in Sonora. But during nearly two years of northbound crossing restrictions, these informal workers who make their living selling used goods from the US at vast outdoor markets were cut off from their Arizona sources.
“We agree in consensus that (the reopening) was our chance to reactivate,” said Francisco Rojo, a spokesperson for the Common Front of Tianguistas, and a tianguista himself. He says there was consensus that the reopening represented a great opportunity for the sector to reactivate itself.
But, with depressed sales and limited merchandise over the last 20 months, he says many will still have trouble financing the supply runs north. He’s also heard from those who have already crossed that the pickings are slimmer these days at Arizona garage sales and swap meets.
