Mandalay mall aims for tourist, local mix

Jennifer Shubinski

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003 | 10:57 a.m.

The newest mall on the Strip is going after locals with convenient parking and an eclectic mix of stores, many of which are not found anywhere else in the Las Vegas Valley.

Mandalay Place, a 100,000-square-foot mall built in a walkway connecting the Mandalay Bay and the Luxor resorts, will offer upscale restaurants and boutiques.

Nike's first Nike Golf store, which will stock high-end Nike apparel, shoes and equipment, and Urban Outfitters, which caters to the college crowd and "urban-minded" youths, are two of the stores unique to Las Vegas that will open in October.

"This is not a retail project built solely for visitors," Gordon Absher, spokesman for Mandalay Bay said. "This is a very unique mix of retailers that we think will attract local shoppers as well."

To give local residents easy access to the mall, a special valet section was built so that shoppers do not have to enter either the Luxor or Mandalay Bay.

And to set itself apart from the rest of Strip retail, where visitors can find many of the same stores at different themed properties, Mandalay Place will not be themed and most of its 41 stores and restaurants -- at least for now -- cannot be found elsewhere on the Strip.

"It will just be an elegant space, the retailers will be the attraction," Absher said.

Mandalay Place also fills a market the Mandalay Resort Group has been absent from -- destination Strip retail shopping. Mandalay Place is the first large collection of stores between Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalabur, all Mandalay Resort Group hotels and casinos on the south end of the Strip.

The Mandalay Place mall will be dwarfed by other high-end retail centers on the Las Vegas Strip, including the 510,000-square-foot Forum Shops at Caesars, 500,000-square-foot Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian and the 475,000-square-foot Desert Passage at the Aladdin. The Fashion Show mall, also on the Strip, is about 1.9 millions square feet.

Mandalay Place is the second Las Vegas mall to open this year. The Las Vegas Premium Outlets, a 435,000-square-foot outlet mall, opened in August.

Early on, Mandalay had talked with British retailer Harrods and upscale chain Nordstrom about anchoring a much larger mall. Those talks were scuttled and the project was scaled back to about half its original cost.

One new retailer isn't worried about the draw of other malls and expects to attract customers from one of Mandalay Bay's restaurants, Charlie Palmer's Aureole. Named for the ideal temperature at which fine wine should be served, 55 Degrees Wine + Design will be run by Andrew Bradbury, Aureole's wine director and is not connected to the restaurant.

"This will be a one of a kind retail store for fine wine in the world," Bradbury said.

The store will sell not only wines, but will have a wine-tasting bar and accessories.

Along with the mall's unique grouping of stores, several eateries are scheduled to open during the mall's rolling opening throughout October and November.

Restaurateur Piero Selvaggio, owner of Valentino's at the Venetian, will open a second Las Vegas restaurant, Caffe Giorgio, at Mandalay Place.

Selvaggio described the Italian restaurant like a tiramasu, a fine dessert with many layers.

The restaurant will have a deli counter, a gelato stand and finger-food at the bar. A casual dining area fronts the restaurant, while in the middle is a more intimate setting. At the back of the restaurant is an event space.

"The restaurant is a place with many different things, but everybody can find something," Selvaggio said.

Mandalay Resort officials did not give an exact opening date of the mall.

The company developed the mall itself, rather than partnering with a retail developer. It is expected to cost from $30 million to $40 million -- a fraction of the roughly $300 million the company spent on new projects in fiscal 2003.

Mandalay executives are projecting annual sales of $750 per square foot for the mall.