Columnist Muriel Stevens: New Vons opens amid fanfare

Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2002 | 8:25 a.m.

There's a new look at the corner of Twain Avenue and Maryland Parkway, across from the Boulevard mall. Gone is the longtime strip mall that formerly was home to a Vons supermarket and a variety of stores.

In its place is a grand new Vons, much larger than the previous store, with a terrific selection of food and specialty items. Vons opened last week with the hoopla and fanfare of a Strip hotel (well, almost). A band with plenty of brass played just inside the entrance of the well-lit food emporium.

A coffee bar offered free coffee and sweet rolls. Bags of corn chips and jars of salad dressing were given away. Most of the customers were doing some serious shopping. They weren't there just for the freebies, they were celebrating this bigger and better Vons. Their favorite neighbor had returned.

Still being completed are a bank of shops that flank the east side of the market. Returning are a number of the previous shops. Facing Maryland Parkway will be a menswear shop, and Anna's Linens. On the west side, 10 acres have been leveled to make way for a park.

Developer Irwin Molasky, whose Molasky Companies own the center, said, "When private enterprise, a public company like Vons and the county commission, a government agency, can all work together it is the finest kind of 'mixed use.'

"The reason it's so fine is that it serves the people who live in the area. They can walk to the market and they can watch their kids playing soccer."

Area residents, still pushing shopping carts, stopped to offer their comments to Molasky, Vons executives and Commissioners Dario Herrera (who cut the store ribbon) and Myrna Williams. They all expressed their gratitude and joy at having such a splendid improvement in their neighborhood.

Vons' food displays and food selection are wonderful. With so much space there's room for every kind of ethnic food, both on the shelves and in the expanded freezer cases. Of course the store is new, but the food displays are exceptionally inviting.

At least four aisles are devoted to merchandise priced at 99 cents -- paper goods, candles, cleaning items and more -- which recognizes the economic diversity of the area. Less than a half-block away from the park is the Cambridge Recreational Center that includes a Metro substation and the Cambridge Community Center. The area is patrolled by a bicycle squad. When the park opens there will be additional security.

More food stores: Costco has a new warehouse store in Summerlin, at Charleston Boulevard and the Las Vegas Beltway. A larger store means more merchandise, but very little is different than at the other Costcos. The book selection is more rounded and the kids' book selection is larger, but little else distinguishes this new Costco from the others.

Book signing at Borders: Borders Books, at 2190 N. Rainbow Blvd. in the Best of the West center, will host a book signing for Vassili Sulich. "Vision in the Desert" is the story of Sulich's life in the theater that began when he was a boy. The Las Vegas years are beautifully recounted. Sulich will be at Borders Feb. 2 from 2-5 p.m. Join him for what he calls, "A celebration of a life."