Sales Drop at Latino Businesses due to Immigration legislation

By Shomial Ahmad

Atlanta, GA – Some Hispanic businesses are saying that their sales have already dropped because of immigration legislation that may become state law.

Plaza Fiesta off of Buford Highway has around 280 stores in its shopping center. Julio Penaranda is a manager at the mall. He says sales have dropped dramatically since the state legislature passed an immigration bill.

"They stopped spending on clothing, they stopped spending on furniture, on toys, because of the uncertainty of what's going to happen. There's a lot of people speaking, saying they're going to wait until their children get out of school, and then they're going to leave the state."

It's not just the big-ticket items that are showing a drop in sales. El Gran Progresso operates Mexican grocery stores across the metro area. Maria Garcia, with the chain, says sales have dropped in the past couple of months.

"We have people going to my stores, saying, 'Good-bye, we're leaving tomorrow. We're going to New York, or we're going to Mexico. We already have people that left."

Garcia says almost every day she hears of some family that's leaving the state.