Harrods looking at LV for first U.S. store

David Strow

Friday, March 17, 2000 | 12:58 p.m.

Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed is eyeing Las Vegas as a possible expansion location for his world-renowned upscale Harrods department store, sources in Las Vegas and London say.

Three gaming industry sources told the Las Vegas Sun that Al Fayed -- father of Dodi Al Fayed, killed with Princess Diana in Paris in 1997 -- has examined a Las Vegas Harrods since at least 1996. But one source indicated that interest has heated up recently, with Al Fayed's associates making inquiries in Las Vegas less than one month ago.

"I have heard they are, at some level, looking at Vegas," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They didn't specify who or what. But they have been making noises of doing something significant."

The source was unable to say whether the venture would be gaming-related or in a strictly retail operation. However, Al Fayed's historic interest in Las Vegas has been retail, and he does not currently have ownership in any gaming interests.

Sources have also told the Sunday Times of London that the possibility of a Las Vegas store is being seriously discussed at boardroom levels at Harrods.

Al Fayed is best known as the father of Dodi Al Fayed, suitor of Princess Diana. The two died in a 1997 car crash in Paris, shortly after leaving Al Fayed's Ritz Hotel in that city.

Al Fayed gained new notoriety after the crash by publicly accusing the British royal family of conspiracy in causing his son's death. Prince Philip responded in January by withdrawing his royal seal of approval from the London store.

Al Fayed has also been clashing with British officials for years in his attempt to gain British citizenship. These attempts have been denied so far because of questions about Al Fayed's honesty and his admissions that he placed British lawmakers on his payroll.

First opened in 1849, the Harrods store in London features more than 1 million square feet of retail space, 300 departments and 21 restaurants. Its slogan is "Omnia, Omnibus, Ubique" -- Latin for "all things for everyone, everywhere."

Harrods also has a store within Al Fayed's Ritz Hotel in Paris. It also maintains a variety of smaller stores, called "signature shops," in cities and airports around the world, including Frankfurt, Vienna, Lisbon, Auckland and Singapore. A Las Vegas store would be Harrods first venture in the United States.

One source said Al Fayed examined the possibility of bringing a "mini-Harrod's" to town about a year ago.

"Some time back, that was the concept he was floating," the source said. "It is news to me that he's become reinterested."

A Harrods spokesman denied there was any interest.

"Everyone is unified in saying ... we have no plans to open a store in Las Vegas," said spokesman Peter Willasey. "We have nothing against Las Vegas ... (but) we have no plans to open a store anywhere else in the world.

"Sadly for the people of Las Vegas, we have no plans to come to Las Vegas."

Willasey said a Harrods official had been in Las Vegas recently, but said he was examining "signage at one of the hotels" for possible use at Harrods in London. "The closest place we could look at it was Las Vegas," Willasey said.

The first flirtations between Al Fayed and Las Vegas began in 1996. While designing the Bellagio, sources said, Mirage Resorts Inc. Chairman Steve Wynn met with Al Fayed in London to discuss placing a second, full-size Harrods in the megaresort.

The two were ultimately unable to reach an agreement, one source said, because Al Fayed wanted more retail space than Wynn was willing to commit, and Al Fayed was not yet convinced he wanted to open such a sizable outlet so far from his home base of London.

"Steve and Al Fayed got along famously," the source said. "But it wasn't going to work for them."

However, the source believes the strengthening of the Las Vegas retail market since then may have Al Fayed taking another look at the city.

"To the extent he was worried about not enough of his peers being here ... we've certainly changed his point of view on that," the source said. "We have some of the top performing stores in the world, on a per-square-foot basis."

Numbers compiled by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority indicate Las Vegas visitors spent an average of $87.94 per trip on shopping in 1999, up 38 percent from 1996. When visitors who did not shop are excluded, the average retail spending per trip jumps to $166.14, up 51 percent from 1996.

Results are impressive on a square-foot basis as well. The Forum Shops at Caesars, for example, boast the nation's best per-square-foot retail performance. The mall's stores averaged $1,200 in sales per square foot in 1998, more than three times the national average.

The most likely target for Harrods, retail observers speculate, would be the expanding Fashion Show Mall, home to such high-end outlets at Sak's Fifth Avenue. Other possibilities, considered less likely by observers, include the mall planned for between Mandalay Bay and Luxor, the Forum Shops at Caesars, the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian and the Desert Passage mall under construction at the new Aladdin hotel-casino.

"That'll be the first coup of the decade in Las Vegas, whoever gets this," a source said of Harrods.