INTEL: Grocery chain has no plans to expand while Tivoli welcomes eatery
Let’s set the record straight.
Trader Joe’s is not planning another Las Vegas-area location right now. At least, another local store isn’t in the company’s two-year plan.
Alison Mochizuki, the brand’s director of public relations, confirmed this recently, but didn’t say much else. Local Trader Joe’s fans will just have to wait and see if another store will ever materialize.
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The creator of Los Angeles restaurant Bottega Louie, Sam Marvin, is opening his Echo & Rig Butcher and Steakhouse this month at Tivoli Village with 111 employees.
The new two-story eatery will feature a large, open-glass meat locker, rose-hued marble floors and rich woods combined with industrial features. Breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner will be served, breaking tradition from typical steakhouses.
As for the butcher shop, expert butcher Trevor Morones will lead the department, giving customers packaged meats in crisp blue butcher-paper with twine and a wax seal.
As Marvin settles in to his new Vegas home, he’ll have some help from his sister, Sheryl Best, who is a businesswoman who resides in Las Vegas.
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This doesn’t even make sense.
TripAdvisor recently released its list of the top 10 cities for pizza in the U.S., based on reviews and opinions from site users. Las Vegas came in at No. 2, following San Diego at No. 1.
Favorite Las Vegas shops included Secret Pizza, Nora’s and Grimaldi’s.
Rounding out the top five were Boston, New York City and Seattle.
“TripAdvisor travelers reveal that some of America’s best pizza is being tossed on the West Coast, which flies in the face of the common perception that pizza is only a Northeast or Midwest specialty,” said Brooke Ferencsik, director of communications at TripAdvisor.
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How much does it cost you to move?
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is spending $95,000 to move its eastern regional office in Washington, D.C. The expense, along with a $3.12 million, 10-year lease, was approved at the authority’s Aug. 13 board meeting.
The authority’s new 4,000-square-foot office will be at 815 Connecticut Ave., NW Washington, D.C., in a 12-story building owned by Alecta Pensionsforsakring, omsesidigt, a Swedish mutual life insurance company. Features include a landscaped roof deck terrace, valet and self-parking garage, and a 24-hour lobby attendant.
Washington, D.C.-based Formar Architects is handling the office design. The move will happen before March 1, when the current lease expires.
The authority has had a D.C. presence for 41 years.
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Overall, chain stores in the United States are doing well.
July’s chain-store sales posted a gain of 4.4 percent for the fiscal month on a year-over-year basis, the strongest gain since January’s 4.5 percent, according to a tally of comparable-store sales compiled by the International Council of Shopping Centers.
“July sales were very solid despite a slow start to the back-to-school season,” said Michael Niemira, vice president of research and chief economist for the council.
For August, the group’s research team anticipates the upward trend will remain in the 4.5 percent to 5 percent range.
Contact reporter Laura Carroll at lcarroll@reviewjournal. com or 702-380-4588. Follow @lscvegas on Twitter.
