Las Vegas becomes a shopping destination

The next time a big event rolls around and a designer dress is in order, thank the out-of-towners who congest Interstate 15 for letting you buy it locally. As much as Las Vegas locals love to curse the city's tourists, they're the only reason we've established ourselves as a premiere shopping destination.

"That's what sets us apart (from other tourist cities). People come here to shop," says Art Jimenez, director of leisure sales for Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

That wasn't always the case, but as the city matured beyond just gaming, it started to come into its own in the entertainment and restaurant arenas. Shopping was the next natural step.

It all started with the Forum Shops at Caesars 17 years ago. Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Escada and Versace set up shop and suddenly the shopping landscape took an exciting new form. Designer-savvy shoppers had a new motivation to come to town and window shoppers found new sources of eye candy. It wasn't long before enough properties jumped on the upscale boutique bandwagon to make the Strip competitive with such reputable shopping streets as Rodeo Drive and Michigan Avenue.

Today, we've gone beyond the household names of Prada, Oscar de la Renta and Chanel to include the fashion elite likes of Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen. Even the prestigious department store, Barneys New York, graced us with its presence.

But, those treats came just before the fall of the economy. Now, the convention authority is counting on the city's status as a shopping destination to keep the high-end retail scene alive. "Our visitors now are feeling kind of guilty (shopping) because their cousin just got laid off or their neighbor's house is in foreclosure, which is why we're marketing 'America, take a break,' " Jimenez says.

The Manhattan shopping concept of asking for unmarked bags at Tiffany & Co. to conceal large expenditures doesn't exist in Vegas, where people are expected to shop. Plus, the convention authority plans to emphasize the fact that a weekend Vegas trip can be planned for in one day. If you can't make that shopping trip to Europe this year, come here instead.

Adding further shopping enticement is the recently opened Esplanade at Encore. For travelers who are well-versed in fashion and possibly jaded by most shopping cities, exclusivity is the name of the game here. "Our guests want something no one else has," says Keri Frame, director of stores for Wynn Las Vegas. "We have to give them something they've never seen."

The Chanel store at Encore marks the world's first ultra luxe boutique for the brand. The luxury jewelry store is designed to resemble Coco Chanel's apartment in Paris. Ensemble and In Step, the property's own clothing and shoe stores, sell items cherry-picked by Wynn buyers for their obscurity and awe-factor. A Paco Rabanne vintage collection can only be seen at Ensemble and a host of the featured designers have global exclusivity agreements with the stores.

For Wynn, economic conditions have meant speedier response times to trends at its stores. Frame says the majority of the shoppers are guests of Wynn and Encore, with locals making up 5 percent to 10 percent. Officials at the Forum Shops at Caesars, on the other hand, estimate their local numbers are higher and have consequently made them a priority recently. The idea, according to Maureen Crampton, marketing director of the Forum Shops, is that people are traveling less, which means locals are shopping in Las Vegas more.

An amped up customer service focus and bridge line (collections with lower price points) availability in designer boutiques will, with luck, have local customers appreciating the effort and expressing as much with purchases. If not, Crampton believes they will remember the gesture when the tough times turn around and demonstrate loyalty then.

"We're just learning to do business differently," she says, "but we still have a great position as a shopping destination. I don't think that's going to falter."

Contact Xazmin Garza at xgarza@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0477.