LAS VEGAS
HIT the JACKPOT with FOLDED PAIRS
(OF DESIGNER DESIGNER JEANS)
DISCOVER A SHOPAHOLIC’S PARADISE IN SIN CITY.
BY JEANETTE HURT
It has always been easy to break the bank in Las Vegas, but you don’t have to leave empty handed if you part ways with your cash in the shops instead of the casinos. Over the last five years, Las Vegas has expanded from a city of shopping mall and department store standards into a sophisticated, über-chic boutique and designer-filled destination for fashionistas.
When I first moved here in the summer of 2001, it was pretty difficult to find specialty pieces, and there were hardly any boutiques,” says Meital Grantz, founder and owner of the celebrity-sought-after boutique Talulah G (www.talulahg.com). “There was Neiman and Saks and some denim places, but no designer perspective or point of view.”
That was Grantz’s premise for opening Talulah G in a small downtown space on Las Vegas Boulevard in the fall of 2001. She later expanded to Fashion Show (www.thefashionshow.com)—one of the nation’s largest shopping centers—and she now has boutiques in Fashion Village at Boca Park in Summerlin and Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa on Vegas’ west side.
“Things have really changed,” she says. “It’s grown, and it’s become a shopping destination, for sure. The shopping in Las Vegas is now just as significant as the gambling.”
So get a handful of cards ready for some of country’s best dealers—odds are you’ll score some fantastic finds at the city’s stylish boutiques.
ON-THE-STRIP MALLS
Just about every casino offers an array of stores, but your best bets for designer duds and fashionable accoutrements include Fashion Show, The Forum Shops (www.harrahs.com) at Caesars Palace, Miracle Mile Shops (www.miraclemileshopslv.com) at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, The Grand Canal Shoppes (www.thegrandcanalshoppes.com) at The Venetian, Wynn Esplanade (www.wynnlasvegas.com), and Via Bellagio (www.bellagio.com).
Within these various Las Vegas Boulevard destinations, there are more than 800 individual shops, and you’ll find everything from Anthropologie to Zara, with Gucci and Prada at the top of the spectrium.
While Via Bellagio and Wynn Esplanade run strictly high end— think Chanel, Manolo Blahnik and Cartier—the rest of these Strip malls offer an affordable mix of middle-class splurges (Kenneth Cole, True Religion), great deals (H&M), department store mainstays (Nordstrom and Dillard’s), as well as luxury boutiques like Coach and Jimmy Choo.
Though shopping isn’t the 24/7 activity that gambling is, many stores are open until 11 or midnight, making it almost as convenient to splurge in the stores as it is to play at the tables.
OFF-STRIP SPECIALTIES
It’s easy not to venture far from the Strip for gambling— so, too, is it easy to restrict your shopping to Strip options. But just as some of the loosest slots are found off-Strip, many of the best boutiques can be found elsewhere in town.
About 30 minutes from the Strip, Lake Las Vegas beckons the shopping elite. MonteLago Village Resort (www.montelagovillage.com) offers a walkable shopping retreat, with stores lining faux-cobblestoned walkways and abutting the azure blue Lake Las
Vegas. For luxury finds, must-visits include Alexander Perfumes & Cosmetics, an incomparable beauty boutique; PINK, a hip boutique for women; and Da Mincci Jewelers, a custom crafter of baubles and purveyor of men’s accessories.
This outdoor shopping center also boasts several art galleries, the retro-toy haven Mishegosse (cap guns and slide whistles, anyone?), and Sunset & Vines, a wine bar/café that not only sells bottles to go, but also hosts wine tastings.
Down the winding road from MonteLago is Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort (www.loewshotels.com). Every Saturday, this Moroccan-themed hotel transforms one of its main hallways into a local artists bazaar. The Souk, as it is called, brings in more than a dozen artists, selling everything from photographs and quilts to handcrafted necklaces and pottery pieces. Right next to the artists’ tables, one of the resort’s sommeliers doles out samples of wine, cheese and fruit, which are available for purchase.
Art, along with antiques and retro-modern furnishings, can also be found in the Las Vegas Arts District, located on Main Street, just off of Charleston Boulevard. A cluster of galleries—The Arts Factory, Face Up Gallery and Dust Gallery—forms the central part of the district, alongside resale shops and a few funky boutiques.
The district’s population almost doubles in size every first Friday of the month, when the area turns into a huge block party during First Friday (www.firstfriday-lasvegas.org). Artists set up tents outside, bands perform on the street and indoor venues stay open late.
Further out west, in Summerlin, is the upscale Fashion Village at Boca Park, where you’ll find Talulah G, along with local boutiques like Broken Leash and C Level, featuring designs from hip, young designers.
You can also buy a sophisticated stereo for the audiophile in your life at Bang & Olufsen. “Basically, you can find something for everyone,” Grantz says.
If you always seem to bust at the blackjack table or don’t want to throw it all away on a spin of the roulette wheel, take a break from Vegas’ glittering gaming floors, and hit its shopping centers, where you are guaranteed to walk away a winner.
OUTLET OASES
Las Vegas has a couple of outlet malls—Las Vegas Premium Outlets and Las Vegas Outlet Center (www.premiumoutlets.com)—but unlike most side-of-the-highway, designer-duds-onthe-cheap, hole-in-the-mall varieties, the ones here are grander, especially Las Vegas Premium Outlets.
This outdoor shopping center has an upscale feel and great deals to boot. From the A/X Armani Exchange and BCBG Max Azria to Polo Ralph Lauren and White House/ Black Market, there are 150 stores from which to choose. And all this is just five minutes from the Strip, which makes it a convenient destination for bargain seekers.
ONLY IN LAS VEGAS
Rainbow Feather Dyeing Company
(www.rainbowfeatherco.com) is where you can find a big selection of Big Bird-like feathers. All this shop sells is feathers, from peacocks to ostriches, turkeys to chickens. If you need a boa or 10, this is where to go.
BIGGER & BETTER
Just about everything in Las Vegas is larger than life. Bigger. In neon. And in your face. The shops are no different, and just as the casinos and resorts are forever under construction, so, too, are the malls. The most recent expansions are at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino and The Shoppes at The Palazzo at The Venetian.
Open since January, The Shoppes at The Palazzo (www.theshoppesatthepalazzo.com)— shown above—are an extravagant expansion to The Venetian, anchored by an 85,000-square-foot Barneys New York. More than 60 other stores can be found here, including the likes of Chloe, Diane von Furstenburg and Piaget, as well as a Lamborghini showroom.
The Miracle Mile Shops were once The Shops in Desert Passage at the Aladdin Resort & Casino. The Aladdin became Planet Hollywood, and the shops experienced an even more dramatic transformation. The dusky, earth-toned, Middle Eastern-esque walls and circular byways were replaced with modern, red-and-black geometric designs. Backlit water features, sparkling mod chandeliers and state-of-the-art LED screens beckon visitors to spend time and money along the 1.2-mile, marble-lined walkway of shops.
All in all, the $50 million renovations seem well spent, since the transformation has enticed new shops to open—like Las Vegas’s first H&M and only Trader Vic’s outpost—for a total of 170 stores.