Operator of LV stores bankrupt

Friday, Jan. 11, 2002 | 11:10 a.m.

The Museum Co., a retailer of museum replicas and art reproductions with 102 stores -- including three in Las Vegas -- filed for bankruptcy protection after sagging sales left the company saddled with debt.

"Problems were exacerbated by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11," Museum Co. said Thursday in New York, where it's based.

The Museum Co. operates Las Vegas-area stores at McCarran International Airport, the Forum Shops at Caesars and Desert Passage at Aladdin.

The three stores remained open today, but officials couldn't be reached for comment on the stores' long-term fate.

With stores primarily located in high-end shopping malls, Museum Co. sells reproductions and adaptations of art found in museums such as New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Washington's Smithsonian Institution. It also sells jewelry, models, scientific instruments, graphic reproductions, books and music.

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