Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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Barneys New York at the Grand Canal Shoppes at Venetian and Palazzo treats shoppers to private fitting rooms with exclusive collections. exclusivity," Matraki says. "Especially over the last couple of yea rs, we're t a lk ing about ca rs, products, Hermès bags—things that the upper- echelon, h igher -net -wor t h people a re pay i ng more and more money for." In Matraki's eyes, it's this desire for extreme exclusivity that has pro- pelled Vegas's mult iyea r ret a il boom. "People don't want to buy what they can find in their own neighborhood or town," he says. "If you're buy- ing in Las Vegas, you want to buy t he except iona l pieces so t hat you ca n go back a nd show t he whole world that this is what you have a nd nobody else ca n have it . T here i s no pr ice resistance when we're talk- i ng about product t hat nobody else can get." "W hat we're seei ng is people now coming to Las Vegas specifically as a shop- pi ng dest i nat ion," says Hedy Woodrow, senior vice president of retail at Wynn and Encore. "We've seen a significant growth rate in Wynn's retail overall— a round 225 percent over t he past few yea rs." Much of t hat g row t h, Wood row says, ca n be att r ibuted to a n inf lux of sav v y inter nat iona l shoppers, most from Asia and South America. Shoppers from China and Japan in particular purchase higher-priced items in larger volumes than other visitors, says Art Jimenez, senior direc- tor of leisure sales for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "Our Chinese visitors are spending just under $1,200 per person per trip," he says, followed closely by visitors from Brazil, who spend roughly $1,000 per person per trip. T he LVC VA's Shop L a s Vega s i n it iat ive, desig ned to st imulate ret a il tour ism, has pa r t nered w it h Shop A mer ica , a nat iona l t r avel org a n i z a t ion t ha t stages shopping tours at top- per for m i ng ret a i l centers a c ros s Nor t h A mer ica , including eight Vegas malls. "One thing we never real- i zed when we st a r ted t he tours eight years ago was how appea ling t hey would be to i nter nat iona l v isitors," says Rosemary McCormick, pres- ident of t he Shop A mer ica Alliance. "I would say about 60 to 70 percent of our clients are international tourists." The demand for lux- ury products is so high among Chinese shoppers, McCor m ick adds, t hat one popu la r ha ndbag retailer recently resorted to imposing a limit on the number of products available to them, "oth- pays tribute to the iconic welcome to fabulous las vegas sign, is available at the brand's three Vegas boutiques, at The Forum Shops at Caesars (702-691-2097), The Shops at Crystals (702-366-0503), and Grand Canal Shoppes at Venetian and Palazzo (702-733-1802). Just in time for the holidays, the Nichola irkwood boutique on the Esplanade at Encore—only the label's second US location—will roll out a handful of exclusive styles as part of its Eden line, including metallic takes on Kirkwood's traditional pointed-toe Bottalato loafers and pairs of jewel-toned satin pumps and skimmer flats adorned with Swarovski- embellished hexagons (702-770-3543; nicholaskirkwood.com). Likewise, the Vegas outposts of the luxury goods maker Salvatore Ferragamo (salvatore ferragamo.com) at The Forum Shops at Caesars (702-933-9333) and Grand Canal Shoppes at Venetian and Palazzo (702-369-0251) will soon stock a black leather men's carryall with gold zippers called the Nevada backpack. photography by Eric Jamison/studio J inc (barnEys); richard ValEncia photography (clutch); oppositE pagE: photography by mElissa ValladarEs Vegas exclusives: Jimmy Choo's Candy clutch; Salvatore Ferragamo's Nevada backpack; Nicholas Kirkwood's ruby pump. 110 vegasmagazine.com