Holiday shoppers skip turkey for Strip stores

By Erin Dostal

Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009 | 6:20 p.m.

In lieu of turkey, thousands of shoppers hit the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday looking for deals and Christmas presents.

“Thanksgiving isn’t a big deal, shopping is a big deal,” said Ashley Alexander, 25, of Toronto, who was shopping at the Forum Shops at Caesars. She had only walked through about half of the mall but already was holding four large shopping bags.

In Canada, Thanksgiving was more than a month ago, so Alexander, her twin sister, Sabrina Smith, and their mom, 58-year-old Eileen Young, decided shopping was the way to spend their family time.

“It’s about spending time with my girls,” Young said. “That’s what’s important.”

Young said she was particularly excited about her new “huge, humongous purse” from Guess.

“We’re really here for tomorrow,” said Smith, who was holding three large shopping bags. “This is not even the half of the shopping we’ll do.”

Liz McNeill, who has worked at Caesars Palace for more than eight years at kiosks in the Forum Shops, said she thought there were fewer shoppers this year compared to previous Thanksgivings.

“I think people are going to the high-end shops,” she said, adding that a lot of people appeared to be window-shopping at the kiosks, but fewer were looking to buy. In the span of 45 minutes on Thursday afternoon, McNeill had made two sales.

The Forum Shops were full of shoppers, of which about half were carrying shopping bags Thursday afternoon.

Randall Parker, general manager of the Coach store at the Forum Shops, said many shoppers come to the Strip on Thanksgiving because some traditional malls are closed.

“We have a lot of travelers in for Thanksgiving,” he said. “It’s really surprising. There’s a lot of people coming down to celebrate.”

Parker said a lot of shoppers appeared to be doing “reconnaissance” – scoping out deals and putting items on hold to buy on Black Friday.

Sitting outside the Fashion Show Mall, which was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, Tammy Huffman and her husband, Scott, took a break from wandering the Strip. Because their children are grown, the couple decided to use their holiday to escape from their home in Shelby, Ohio, and enjoy warm weather.

Tammy Huffman bought new charms for her bracelet at Pandora in the Forum Shops. Her husband was happy with the Las Vegas tourist sweatshirts he bought elsewhere on the Strip.

Other shoppers made their way to the Shoppes at The Palazzo.

“We just had a couple of days off … we come down and pretend we’re tourists,” said Gerry Meegan, 51, of Las Vegas. He and his wife came to the Palazzo with an express mission: Illy coffee.

The couple planned to skip turkey for Thanksgiving and go out for Thai food.

Angie Wirtz, 38, of Lafayette, Ind., said she and her daughters were using the day to shop because they had their turkey on Wednesday.

“We’re visiting family,” she said while at the Forum Shops. “So today is just leftovers.”