Nick Constantino, general manager of Dream Car Rentals on the Strip, said he expects brisk business this week for the National Basketball Association's All-Star Game. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

From hotel rooms to Humvee rentals and snacks to sneaker sellers, businesses all over Las Vegas are clamoring for some of the money NBA fans and players will spend this week.

The nongaming economic impact of the All-Star Game in Las Vegas is projected to surpass $26 million, an amount well below the combined single-season salaries of All-Stars Kevin Garnett and Shaquille O'Neal.

And with $1,600 Lamborghini rentals and $2,100 sneakers among the opportunities for conspicuous consumption this weekend, it looks like a good time to target the multimillionaire demographic -- or at least the multimillionaire-wannabe crowd.

Shiekh Ellahi, owner of Shiekh Shoes in the Fashion Show mall and 93 other stores in four states, said he imported 18 employees to Las Vegas from California, Texas and other locations to help out in his six Southern Nevada shops.

Ellahi, whose store in Houston did brisk business in advance of the 2006 All-Star Game in that city, wasn't going to be caught off-guard this year in Las Vegas.

"I think we left a lot of business on the table," Ellahi said of the Houston experience. "We didn't know the impact."

This year he converted his entire Fashion Show inventory this week from high heels and men's and women's casual shoes to sneakers and hip-hop apparel. The star attraction? A pair of crocodile skin Nike Air Force One sneakers with gold-plated tags.

During a typical week, he said, his Fashion Show store may do $10,000 in business. This week Ellahi said he's ordered $250,000 in inventory. He also ordered contractors to pay workers three weeks' of overtime in a push to get a new store opened in the Boulevard Mall in time for the NBA festivities.

On the other side of Las Vegas Boulevard from Fashion Show, Nick Constantino is gearing up for a busy time as well.

Constantino is the general manager of Dream Car Rentals, an agency that features Ferraris, Porsches, Corvettes, Vipers and the slogan, "Drive the Dream."

He said countless celebrity parties and All-Star Game-oriented events mean his inventory of about 100 vehicles, which includes a 2002 Ferrari F-360 worth about $170,000 that he picked up this week in Los Angeles, is nearly all booked.

"I don't know what to compare it to other than New Year's Eve," Constantino said.

In addition to the Ferrari, which rents for $1,499 for 24 hours, Dream Car rents a Lamborghini Gallardo for $1,599 and dozens of other models. Constantino also rents party buses for Diamond Transportation.

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the game is expected to attract about 25,000 people to Las Vegas. That figure doesn't include an estimate of how many people will visit Southern Nevada this week just to catch a glimpse of the action.

"We are going to be the place to be in the world," said Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the authority, which spent about $4.5 million to host the All-Star Game.

Despite the attention being paid to sales of luxury items to the NBA crowd, there are doubts about how much new money the All-Star Game, or any special event for that matter, brings to the economy.

Robert Baade, a professor of economics and business at Lake Forest College in Chicago, said sometimes large events just displace spending that would already occur.

In Las Vegas, where weekend hotel occupancy is already above 90 percent, Baade said NBA customers might not represent new spending.

"You might simply be replacing one set of consumers for another," said Baade, who studies the economic impact of sporting events. Baade also said big events such as a Super Bowl or Olympics can deter local people from spending time and money in an area.

"Residents of the community don't bother doing the things they normally do," he said. "They don't want to deal with the congestion, they don't want to deal with the traffic."

And unless it prompts local businesses to create more jobs, the impact of any one event soon dissipates.

"You can't expect any economic legacy from something like this," Baade said. "It comes and it goes. It is like a circus coming to town."