Duty Free Zone: Border Style

  Puerto Palomas, Chihuahua, Mexico
Saturday, April 26, 2008

Many travelers connote duty free stores with international air travel: a shop in the international terminal where you can waste some time while waiting to board your flight. Here on the border we have our own style. The duty free store is a free-standing building located near the border crossing where U.S. citizens can purchase items that normally have an importation duty or tax. The customer must then "dutifully" [sorry, I couldn't resist that] carry the items purchased across the border into Mexico. When they return back into the US they declare them and pay a little tax to the state of Texas. All told, you save some money on the items.


This is especially true in Palomas where there is no fee to cross into Mexico and back, as there is in places where you have to pay to use a bridge.

This time, after many crossings at Palomas, I stepped into the duty free store to see what they had to offer. The photos speak for themselves. I talked to the clerk about the process. She seemed to think that in Palomas the people responsible for monitoring the duty process were less careful than in other places. I didn't try it, though I was tempted by the low prices on brandy and Kahlua.