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Hard Rock opens second cafe in Las Vegas
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.
Showcase Mall
The Las Vegas Strip just got a little more rock ‘n’ roll.
Hard Rock International opened its second Las Vegas location on Saturday, bringing its comfort food and rock star relics to the Strip for the first time.
Anchoring MGM Grand’s Showcase Mall, the new three-story, 42,000- square-foot cafe will be one of the company’s largest locations, second only to the Hard Rock Cafe Orlando.
Hard Rock’s Strip location features a 950-seat restaurant, a live concert venue and the world’s largest Rock Shop, complete with Hard Rock merchandise.
Hard Rock is opening with new technology to expand the reach of its extensive rock memorabilia collection.
Located in the restaurant’s lobby is the company’s trademarked, interactive Rock Wall, which allows visitors to blow up images and videos in Hard Rock’s collection to a larger-than-life size. The 18-foot wide by 4-foot tall touch screen gives users the chance to browse memorabilia at the company’s 156 venues around the world.
Inside the main dining area, each dining booth features a 19-inch touch screen, giving diners a more personal look at some of Hard Rock’s 70,000 (and counting) pieces of rock history. The screens run Hard Rock’s Memo 2.0 application, which allows users to browse memorabilia by featured artists, genre, type, decade and location.
With the application’s deep zoom feature, users can take in every scratch on John Lennon’s glasses, every knick on Jimi Hendrix’s 1956 Gibson Les Paul and every thread on Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” wedding dress. A background story is paired with every piece, giving diners a mini rock history lesson with their meal.
As planned, Hard Rock hired just more than 500 full- and part-time employees for its Strip location.
Greg Thomas, general manager of the other Las Vegas Hard Rock Cafe location, on Paradise Road next to the Hard Rock casino, will lead the staff at the new location. The Paradise Road location will remain open.
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yawn.
O boy, another overpriced crappy restaurant in Vegas.
More comments from unhappy, miserable posters.
Whoopty-dam-do
Of all the "t&a" places and $10 a drink joints that have opened and willopen here, Hard ROck does have a unique and established theme. my guess is the place will do well and sstay open long after the t&a $10 drink jointss close.
logic
we're not unhappy or miserable, just realistic.
Just out of curiosity, are the employees called Pet Rocks?
they must be making lots of money during depressed times...to have another one opened in the city of Las Vegas
500 new jobs in Vegas...more important than anything!
silver13
500 PART time and full time jobs most of which went to the already unemployed. the part time jobs are just that=not permanent. I'd like to know the number of full time v part time. Full time - managers, part time- everyone else. In Janua ry we'll be reading 350 lost their jobs because business was slow.
silver13...
c'mon...you can't be serious.
out of 500 jobs, probably 100 will be cut after this weekend.
the 400 that are left are MAYBE 50% full time jobs.
logic...
i'm not unhappy, it's just that the hard rock is about as "hard rock" as applebee's.
trader vic's was cool and different, the peppermill is unique.
this is just another tourist trap.
Ten dollar drinks and three dollar tips! No thanks, I'll stick to my three dollar bottles of Charles Shaw from Trader Joe's. Does anyone know why we pay three dollars per bottle while Californians pay only two?
I remember way back... Before the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino existed...
Didn't they have a Hard Rock Cafe in Caesars?.. or it may have been in the forum shops?
I distinctly remember eating there a few times at least a decade back.
No, that was the Planet Hollywood Cafe in Ceasar's.
Yes, that was and is Planet Hollywood at the Forum Shops.
They're similar in food style IMO, except movie memorabilia instead of rock and roll.
This location is all about the foot traffic.
I wonder if this will cannibalize the other Hard Rock location?
They should have Las Vegas's greatest entertainer's, The Scintas's, open the joint.
This is positive news. That part of the Strip is boring. Lots and lots of these types of stories are needed before the good times roll again, but it will happen.
It is positive news!!! Unfortunately, you will always have someone wanting to throw cold water on a good thing. Misery LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES company???
They've tried something very similar to that already in that space. Wasn't that where the All-Star Cafe was back about 10 years ago? Why did it close?
skerlahdee and geenab65
Hard Rock is not a "new" type of place. there are many of them across the country and the newness of this place will run its course. But it's not going to do much to make things any better. It's just another dime a dozen joint where maybe there are enough people out there who will fork over $15 for a burger and $7 for a beer and will squeal over Bret Michael's headband before Rock of Love. If they were smart they would put in something of the Jonas Brothers so the teenyhboppers will whine for their parents to bring them in there and drop $200 for dinner for a family of 4 (incl souvenirs). Who knows maybe Hard Rock wll get lucky and stay busy for awhile.
PS Not that the Jonas Bros belong in a place like Hard rock! But $$$ is $$.
grease burger
skerlahdee and geenab65
Hard Rock is not a "new" type of place. there are many of them across the country and the newness of this place will run its course. But it's not going to do much to make things any better. It's just another dime a dozen joint where maybe there are enough people out there who will fork over $15 for a burger and $7 for a beer and will squeal over Bret Michael's headband before Rock of Love. If they were smart they would put in something of the Jonas Brothers so the teenyhboppers will whine for their parents to bring them in there and drop $200 for dinner for a family of 4 (incl souvenirs). Who knows maybe Hard Rock wll get lucky and stay busy for awhile.
PS Not that the Jonas Bros belong in a place like Hard rock! But $$$ is $$.
__________________________________________________
I agree but until LV realizes that the people that do have money will spend it however the hell they want (because they earned it), I'm not gonna throw cold water on it.
Waste of money and time to get down to the strip. Their food is nothing to write home about. Over priced to say the least.
Perfect for the moron tourists that blow their money here.
stevenm - isnt the 'strip area' all about tourist traps...? Its the basis of the LV economy isnt it?
Even if 100 jobs are cut, say another 00-150 are p/t - that still leaves about 300 jobs no matter how you look at it - jobs are good no matter what these days...
Both sides of this argument have valid points. I tend to think that Hard Rock might pull this one off, as they're still actually cheaper than a lot of the other designer restaurants on the strip. And the memorabilia they have is a legitimate draw. The interactive stuff also seem worth a looksee.
Biggest loser? The Harley Davidson burger joint, just up the block.
Yea!!! More new jobs for the working class could get bad tips for quality service.
On the contrary to most of the posts, I believe that Hard Rock Cafes offer a consistently good and affordable food product in a lively atmosphere. Good Luck!