How much do you rely on the Mexican shopper?
- The walking trade is probably 85% of our business.
- You're still open, you lost 85% of your business
during this pandemic.
- We've had to lay off people, all our sales girls are gone.
My kids are ding the sales.
Our custom made boots is basically, what's held us here.
It keeps us here, it keeps us going.
- [Lorraine] The custom made boots, but I mean,
well if somebody hears 85%, you've had to lay off people.
How have you managed to just kind of make ends meet?
- [David] Just because of the custom boots
it's just handled, it's kept us alive.
So, it wasn't for that, we probably wouldn't be here now.
- Did you apply for any of the federal loans
that came through?
- We did for the first one and got it.
And we haven't been able to get the other one
or apply for it where it's kind of confusing,
the second one.
- [Lorraine] You've been in business 40 years now?
- 41 yup.
- [Lorraine] You ask yourself,
how have I been able to do this and how much longer can I?
- I love what I do, I love it, I'll be here.
- [Lorraine] You're Nogales born and bred.
You had a chance to talk to a Senator and tell him
what you think would work.
- Right.
- What'd you tell him?
- I told him that we needed an easier entrance and exit
to Mexico.
Mexico brings a lot of money into Nogales,
to Tucson, to Phoenix.
It does even LA catches our buildings.
And just from Nogales Sonora, Almosio
and all down to Cinderella.
there are a lot of people that come up from Mexico,
go in deeper, and they're coming across now
with, in airplanes, okay?
Private airplanes and stuff, and they fly into the airports.
That's starting to where they can get across.
- And they can come in easily, but people can't walk in?
- Right.
The people with a lot of money
that can handle the airplanes can come in.
- [Lorraine] So when you sit down with a Senator,
I mean, you guys talked,
do you get the sense that he cares
and he's going to do something for you in Washington?
- He'd already cared, but he knew,
he understands the problem here.
Simple things like the train coming across the border
or going south, it takes forever.
They check it, check it, and there's the, down here
on the track, there's an x-ray machine
that it has to go through.
I don't know, but it could be a lot faster.
- [Lorraine] It stops traffic at a standstill?
- [David] Kind of sit it here sometimes for 20 minutes
without moving and take up 1, 2, 3 crosses.
- [Lorraine] People, cars can't cross?
- [David] Nothing.
- [Lorraine] They can't spend money.
- [David] No bridges.
- So, what's the solution.
- Just get everything, it needs organization,
it can be done.
I don't, it just needs to be organized a little bit better
where things move quicker.
I don't know, but I know I need, something needs to be done.
- David how much longer can you keep doing this
at this pace?
- If the border opens up next month, forever (laughs).
But every month they tells the same thing,
it's gonna be next month, it's gonna be next month,
it's gonna be next month, and it never opens.
- So you strike me as a very tough man,
you make cowboy boots for a living.
- (laughs) I gotta tell you no, we wore out our nails,
fingernails hanging on, now we're right down
to our toenails today.
- [Lorraine] What gives you hope that better days are ahead?
- The two communities Nogales Sonora, Nogales Arizona
work very closely together.
Why? Because there's a lot of inter marriages
in the families.
There's a lot of people from Nogales Sonora
that live over here that put their families,
their parents and whatnot are there and vice versa.
There's a lot of Americans that are living in Mexico,
even though they work here just because they cost of living.
But all these people just,
and they start moving out and spend more.
- [Lorraine] Let's look into the future one year
is David's Western wear still here.
- [David] If you open the border, yes.
- [Lorraine] And if they don't very quickly.
- [David] Well it's sad, it might be gone,
but I'll still keep my boot maybe, just for something to do.
(clapping sounds)