Vegas Tix 4 Less wins commission approval to set up sidewalk kiosk

A skirmish between two discount show-ticket vendors was largely sidestepped Wednesday, when one of them won county approval to set up a sidewalk operation in front of the Showcase mall.

Vegas.com, which will likely operate the kiosk as Vegas Tix 4 Less, won approval to build an estimated $500,000 outlet after a zoning hearing by the Clark County Commission. It will be attached to the back of a bus shelter on private land in front of the mall's adidas store.

The 4-to-2 vote came after a rival discounter appealed an earlier approval. "The issue is, do you sacrifice the public sidewalk when it is absolutely not needed?" said Mitch Francis, operator of Tix4Tonight, adding after the decision that he was "stunned."

Tix 4 Tonight representative Dan Musgrove unsuccessfully argued that both vendors already have conventional retail outlets in the Showcase mall, so "it is strictly a competitive issue for both sides."

But the commission's questions were more about sidewalk traffic flow. Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani moved to deny the kiosk after voicing concerns about creating "a tunnel-like, funnel-like situation" with pedestrians.

County staff raised concerns about the booth creating a precedent. Attorney Chris Kaempfer, representing the Vegas.com proposal, said the "specialness" of the layout guarantees no similar situation can be found elsewhere on the Strip.

Tix4Tonight, owned by Tix Corp., dominates the same-day "two for one" ticket business with seven outlets and about 115,000 tickets sold every month.

Vegas.com, part of the Greenspun Corp., consolidated much of the market for full-price and online sales in the past eight years. The company started selling discount tickets in April.

Tix4Tonight attorney Ross Goodman said the Vegas.com proposal had earlier misrepresented the competitive situation of 20 discount outlets around town.

Commissioner Steve Sisolak said the economic benefit of ticket sales was "weighing heavily" in his move to allow the booth for ticket sales only, with a limited queue line and a nine-month review.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.