Vegas' grand designs

When it comes to shopping, Las Vegas is on its way to becoming the fashion capital of the West. Even through the recession, luxury brands have continued to pour money into the $28.2-billion retail market, adding to what is already a smorgasbord of high-end offerings. Though the state's recovery will likely lag for months behind the rest of the country, Lanvin, Tom Ford, Donna Karan and Reed Krakoff all opened stores in Las Vegas in 2010, banking on exposure to the city's nearly 40 million annual visitors. Other brands such as Louis Vuitton and Prada built new, supersized boutiques, adding to the number of outlets they already have here. These stores aren't targeting locals; they're targeting wealthy and foreign tourists. (Twelve percent of visitors to Las Vegas come from overseas.) The assortment of merchandise is sophisticated, even avant-garde at certain boutiques. And customer service can be over the top. "Retailers look upon Las Vegas as one of the markets to be in," says Stephen P.A. Brown, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. And he adds that the Caesars Palace Forum Shops still has the highest sales per square foot - $1,400 - of any shopping mall in the U.S. (In 2009, average sales per square foot at U.S. malls were $420, according to data from investment research firm Green Street Advisors that was reported in U.S. News and World Report.) Opening a store here has also become a way to create brand awareness, Brown says, and having multiple locations in Las Vegas isn't so outrageous when you consider how difficult it is to move up and down the Strip. (Louis Vuitton has four stores in Las Vegas, Tiffany & Co., Dior and Chanel each have three, and Prada and Hermes have two.) "You can't look at Las Vegas as one point in time. You have to look at it in terms of the long stretch," says Krakoff, the creative director of Coach who started his own namesake luxury brand in 2009. He opened his third boutique in the world at the Forum Shops in November, offering such items as a $1,790 beaver fur cardigan. "Las Vegas is great for a brand in its early phase. You have captive customers who are inclined to want to see something new." If the experience of shopping in Las Vegas feels different, that's the point. You're likely to get an enthusiastic "Hello!" before you've stepped 5 feet into a luxury store, even if you happen to be toting a strawberry daiquiri. "The training for salespeople is different," says Terri Monsour, a retail consultant who has worked with the Wynn Resorts and the Cosmopolitan. "First thing they teach you is not to judge a book by its cover. And always follow up a sale with a letter. ... This is a city where you can meet someone once and they will be your customer for life." There seems to be nothing salespeople at luxury boutiques won't do. One evening, the manager of a designer boutique at the Forum Shops took a selection of pants to a guest's room so he could shop from his bubble bath, says Maureen Crampton, marketing director of the Caesars Palace mall. Efforts to personalize the shopping experience even extend to the window displays, which are often switched out depending on the headliner in town. There's "more flash when there's a headlining boxing match, for example," Crampton says. "If there is a crazy special item, and only three were produced, most likely one of them is sitting in a Las Vegas boutique," says Jenna Doughton, a personal shopper whose clients include locals and tourists. And a lot of business is done over the phone. "It's not uncommon for salespeople to get phone calls at 10 or 11 p.m. at night. A woman in New York can't sleep and she's obsessed with a dress. She's calling Las Vegas because it's the only place left in the world she can shop," Doughton says. Although Vegas has always had numerous places to shop, it has only recently earned its place on the world fashion map. Kicking off the luxury boom in 1992, the kitschy, Roman-themed Forum Shops now has a high-low mix of tenants, including two Coach boutiques, the largest H&M store in the world, Cartier, Versace and Ugg Australia, where you can buy $800 Vegas-themed, Swarovski crystal-encrusted sheepskin boots.