M&Ms joins crowd with a Strip address

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

TOURISTS walking along the Strip have just about gotten used to seeing the unexpected, with bronzed behinds, the Statue of Liberty and a 100-foot Coke bottle standing out amid the lively streetscape.

But seeing a pair of giant M&Ms emerge from an escalator and climb atop a stage amid a flurry of pyrotechnics on Monday was a little hard to swallow.

That was the kickoff developers of the Showcase mall gave M&M/Mars and Ethel M Chocolates Inc., sister companies that will be the newest tenant in the entertainment center on the Strip, just north of Tropicana Avenue.

The Showcase already is home to the Official All-Star Cafe, GameWorks and The World of Coca-Cola.

By fall, the candy that "melts in your mouth ... not in your hand " will have a new home at the four-level, $94 million facility already listed as an address by Andre Agassi (All-Star Cafe), Steven Spielberg (GameWorks) and the most recognizable brand name on Earth.

Ethel M Chocolates President Mary Foster said the sister companies, established by candy entrepreneur Forrest Mars, would develop a first-of-its-kind concept at the Showcase.

On the first floor of the four-level, 30,000-square-foot center will be a flagship Ethel M Chocolates store, more elaborate than the 12 existing retail outlets. The second floor will be home to the first-ever M&Ms retail store.

The third level will be an entertainment attraction to be created by the Landmark Entertainment Group. The concept: a day in the life of an M&M featuring the candy characters created in recent M&M advertising campaigns.

Landmark Entertainment developed Caesars Magical Empire and is building the interactive attraction for "Star Trek: The Experience" at the Las Vegas Hilton. Foster said the attraction would be free.

No plans were announced for the fourth level of the complex.

Foster said the M&M retail store will include sales of candy "in about every type of container imaginable." Tall glass bins containing 27 different colors of candies, to be called M&M Colorworks, are expected to be a part of the retail display.

The entire candy outlet will employ about 200, Foster said.

Foster would not disclose the amount of money being invested in the new property, but did say her company approached Showcase with the proposal. The Ethel M retail outlet is expected to be open by October and the M&M World won't be completed until mid- to late 1998.

Forrest Mars founded the company that produces Snickers, Milky Way, Three Musketeers and M&Ms in Tacoma, Wash. When he retired, he moved to Southern Nevada and in 1981 established Ethel M Chocolates Inc., makers of gourmet boxed chocolates, with a production facility in Henderson. The name of the company was a tribute to his mother.

M&M/Mars is headquartered in Hacketstown, N.J., with production facilities across the country. Foster said while her company has completed some projection studies on the number of visitors anticipated at the facility, "it would be a wild guess as to how many people will see it" every day.