SAN DIEGO (Border Report) -- For a Monday morning, parking along San Ysidro Boulevard and at strip malls that line the roadway just north of border, was at a premium and hard to find. There was a steady line of people walking from the border crossing while others were headed in the opposite direction carrying items such as suitcases and plastic bags filled with merchandise. It was part of the last minute holiday shopping in San Ysidro, but staff from Carolin Shoes called it "too little too late" to salvage their season. Violeta Gonzalez is a Tijuana resident who often crosses the border to shop in San Ysidro, Calif. (Salvador Rivera/Border Report) One employee, who wanted to remain anonymous, quickly gave the thumbs down when asked how busy they had been since Thanksgiving. Another employee responded "it's been really slow." Both blamed the long border waits for keeping customers away. Brownsville border crossing’s $264M facelift begins in 2026 Other shopkeepers in the area also said extreme border crossing times were the main reason why many Mexican shoppers have not been coming across the border to shop. Shoppers like Violeta Gonzalez agreed. "I woke up at 5 this morning and crossed the border on foot, it took me an hour and 40 minutes," she said. "My neighbor on Sunday morning did five hours!" Even with the long border waits, Gonzalez expected a lot more shoppers in San Ysidro. "I thought there would be a lot more people here, but no. I came here last year and compared to right now, there were a lot more customers on the streets and in the stores." She couldn't help but feel bad for sales people who earn a living with their commissions. Health warning issued in Tijuana over poor air quality "It's sad because that's how they feed their families, I wish they would add more immigration staff to the lanes," Gonzalez said. "They have 10 lanes, but this morning they only had two officers working, why can't they have everything open, that would help." According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection border wait website, commuters waited in line for 135 minutes at 9 a.m. to cross the border from Tijuana to San Ysidro at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Monday morning. At 1 p.m., wait times had gone up to 240 minutes, or four hours on average. A man named George, who was selling cellphones from a small booth near the border crossing, said the long border waits "are killing businesses in San Ysidro." The peso in recent months has been steadily losing value against the U.S. dollar. Visit the BorderReport.com homepage for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the U.S.-Mexico border Right now at money exchange houses, it takes slightly more than 20 pesos to get one dollar. Border Report asked Gonzalez if she thought the weak peso, which offers less buying power to people from Mexico, was also to blame for shoppers staying away, she said it wasn't much of a factor.