Wednesday, May 6, 2009 | 9:40 a.m.
Sun Coverage
A Barneys New York official today denied a report the company is trying to close its store on the Las Vegas Strip because of disappointing sales there.
"There is no truth to the story at all,'' Dawn Brown, vice president of publicity for Barneys, said in an e-mail.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that Barneys wants to close the 85,000-square-foot store that anchors the Shoppes at the Palazzo at Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s Palazzo resort.
The mall is owned by General Growth Properties Inc. of Chicago, which is restructuring its debt in bankruptcy court.
The Journal said the Las Vegas store is one of two that Barneys, a luxury retailer, hopes to close because of a decline in luxury spending tied to the recession. The other location has not been named.
There are also problems specific to the Las Vegas location, the Journal said.
Barneys had expected to generate $6 million a month in sales at the 85,000-square-foot store, but since last fall the company has achieved only about a quarter of that, one person familiar with the issue told the Journal.
"The mall is beautiful, but you just can't shop it," Matt Bear, principal of EndCap Real Estate Advisors in Las Vegas, told the Journal. "The layout is strange," making Barneys hard to find. Surrounding luxury boutiques are also cannibalizing Barneys' sales, he told the Journal.
With top accommodations, first-rate entertainment, high-end shopping and a slew of acclaimed chefs, the Palazzo has positioned itself as one of the most luxurious resorts on the Strip.
More than 3,000 all-suite rooms start at 740 square feet and are decorated in a modern, yet classic, Italian style. Each room features a sleeping area, with a king or two queens, and a sunken living room area with floor to ceiling windows.
A cathedral ceiling tops the Palazzo casino, while a second 80-foot dome brings natural light to the property's lobby. The 105,000 square foot casino features more than 2,000 slots and 80 table games but lacks the stale smell of cigarettes, as the property is LEED certified with smoking off limits in most of the Palazzo — including 50 percent of the casino floor.
Dining at the Palazzo is among the best of the Strip, starting with Wolfgang Puck's CUT. Chef Simon To serves up authentic Chinese cuisine at Zine, while Sushisamba combines Brazilian and Peruvian flavors with Japanese techniques. At LAVO, club-goers can dine on Mediterranean dishes before heading upstairs to the bath house-inspired nightclub.
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