Thousands flock to new Curacao store at Meadows Mall in Las Vegas

Just before 9:30 a.m. Saturday, as dozens of shoppers pushed red carts full of televisions and appliances through sliding doors and into the Curacao parking lot, three air horn blasts shook the air inside the store.

Marisol Lagos-Flores, who made the 50th purchase at Curacao’s grand opening Saturday morning, had won a free 32-inch TV.

She wasn’t the only one. For every 50th transaction Saturday, another lucky customer went home with a new television.

Lagos-Flores ventured to the store’s opening in hopes of buying a marked-down microwave, a deal Curacao’s vice president of marketing explained was a play on numbers. The first 101 customers, meant to mimic the date, Oct. 1, would pay $12 for a microwave, a price that pointed to the Meadows Mall location being Curacao’s 12th store.

A handful of store employees took photos with Lagos-Flores as one worker brought a flat-screen TV from somewhere in the store and set it next to the coffeemaker and the microwave she had already purchased.

Lagos-Flores said she is excited, not only because of the free TV, but also because she has noticed that stores catering to the Latino community are largely absent from the Las Vegas market.

The 23-year-old, who moved to Las Vegas from Honduras five years ago, said she shopped at a similar chain in her home country. She said those stores sold mostly home appliances and electronics; she likes Curacao because it has those products and more.

Vice President of Marketing Teylez Perez, weaving his way through lines at least 30 people long at each register, echoed that sentiment.

“The amount of brands that we have under one roof is overwhelming,” Perez said. “You name it, we have it.”

Curacao’s multiple departments also give the store an edge, he said. The store carries furniture, appliances, electronics, jewelry, handbags, toys and more — everything but clothing and food, Perez said.

“You’ve been seeing a lot of specialty stores now,” Perez said. “If you want Michael Kors, you probably have a ton of Michael Kors options, but you have to go there. If you want to see another brand, you have to go to another store.”

“Here, you can find everything in one place,” he said, waving his arm over the airy 100,000-square-foot space.

Curacao, a California-based company founded in 1981, took the place of Dillard’s, which owns the property and closed its regular store on the first floor while keeping an upper-floor clearance center two years ago. The lower space had remained empty since 2014.

“We believe that this is great timing to open the store in Las Vegas because the economy has improved tremendously,” Perez said.

The company caters to the Latino community, but management has said that the store — Curacao’s first in Nevada — is expected to be popular among many demographics.

“Las Vegas is a multicultural market and we are a multicultural company,” Perez said.

Ana Barajas, 21, got to the store about 6 a.m. and was one of the first 100 people through the door. Barajas shopped at the stores in Los Angeles and said she appreciates that Curacao doesn’t require customers to make down payments on purchases; shoppers could take the items home and start making payments later.

“Everything looks good. It has everything,” Barajas said. “When it’s time for Christmas, and there’s a lot more shopping, we’ll come back.”

Another woman who had waited in line since 6 a.m. mistakenly brought the wrong microwave to the cash register to take advantage of the $12 deal. She commended the store’s customer service for tracking down the right microwave and giving it to her for free after she waited nearly an hour.

The 68-year-old woman and her friend hugged the manager who brought them the microwave and told him they would be back to shop there again.

The store’s opening day, which Perez estimated brought 40,000 people through its doors throughout the day, closed with a six-hour celebration in the mall’s parking lot.

Savory smells wafted from food trucks including Burgerfest, Tacofest and Delicias Latinas as a large crowd watched a Michael Jackson tribute and awaited performances from popular singers Ana Barbara, Pablo Montero and Jose Manuel Figueroa. TV host Mario Lopez was also scheduled to appear.

Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Follow @lauxkimber on Twitter.