Monday, Feb. 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
IF a state-of-the-art mall is defined as one replete with snazzy stores and a prime location, then the Galleria at Sunset fits the bill.
But if a state-of-the-art mall is defined as an entertainment venue, a community gathering place or an architectural wonder, then the Galleria misses the mark, said Eric Strain, UNLV School of Architecture adjunct professor.
"I don't think they're taking their cues from The Forum Shops (at Caesars) -- doing what a mall could to become more than just a shopping venue," he said.
"It's standard mall issue ... a big box to suck shoppers off the street and contain them."
The outside is unredeeming, he said. "Even the Boulevard Mall has done more with the exterior."
And interior spaces, he said, are designed to keep shoppers moving in and out of stores -- not wandering into galleries or roaming from theaters to restaurants to stores and then to night spots.
But he predicted the Galleria will be successful because it's convenient.
And that's enough for mall promoters.
Looking to draw from above-average-income Green Valley households, television and radio ads for Henderson's first mall proclaim: "(The Galleria is) just for you. Anybody who is anybody will be there."
Although the new mall won't attract the likes of awe-seekers who congregate beneath The Forum Shops' heavenly ceilings, Strain concedes the Galleria's interior detail will create a pleasing environment for shoppers.
Women targeted
A little more than a week before its opening, workers are polishing terrazzo floors, squeegeeing atrium skylights, testing water cascades and arranging the food court's chess-piece topiaries.
The fuss will help target 25- to 54-year-old females who make up the ideal mall demographic and reside in large numbers in Henderson.
And for the 300,000 people who live within a 10-mile radius of the mall, the Galleria will stage family-oriented activities throughout the year.
After Disney-produced opening events, the Galleria has scheduled a one-ton Easter chocolate sculpture display and a robotic dinosaur traveling museum.
While that won't match the perpetual magnetism of the moving Roman statues at The Forum Shops, Galleria entertainment fits into an initial marketing plan that doesn't encompass hordes of tourists, said Randy Aguilar, director of marketing.
Realizing that Henderson's $41,000 average household income is above the national norm of about $30,000, and the average Henderson age is an ideal 39, Aguilar's focus is retail for locals.
The mall will feature four anchor department stores: Dillard's (208,186 square feet), Robinsons-May (180,000), J.C. Penney (125,264) and Mervyn's (83,232). Two additional anchors are planned in Phase 2, but tenants have yet to be announced.
Hoping to draw the yuppie market in droves, chain stores are employing the latest in interior prototypes and merchandise.
Mervyn's, one of the most successful middle-of-the-road department stores in the West, has adopted a more contemporary image. To go along with its new name, "Mervyn's California," the store has extended clothing and household lines and added a luggage department.
The mood in its 267th store will be trendier and more colorful, said Marc Gendron, a Mervyn's spokesman. New features include centralized guest service phones, in-store baby strollers, wider aisles and shallower departments.
Although the store is changing, tried-and-true customers will still know they're in a Mervyn's by its labels, department locations and customer-friendly policies, Gendron said.
Here's how other mall stores will be drawing from their reputations:
* EDDIE BAUER, with a penchant for Northwest flannel plaids, will draw from its local catalog clientele.
"We are not going to be carrying two-piece jogging sets with rhinestones," said spokeswoman Karen Peck. "Las Vegas certainly has a distinct character. But our clothes manage to work in practically every place."
* THE LIMITED "will be very much geared to the American woman -- just like the 710 stores we have," said a spokeswoman for the women's apparel chain. "We'll be refining what we already do -- reinforcing our brand and identity."
Because fixtures will be updated along with other newer stores, she said customers will feel a "different presence when they walk in."
* WITH ITS success in the The Forum Shops, bebe, another women's store, will be "going forward with its '96 look," said spokeswoman Sandra Alvarenga.
The Forum Shops store leads the chain's 70 outlets nationwide, so she's looking forward to another Southern Nevada location. But rather than drawing from the tourist market, as at The Forum Shops, bebe will be going after the "stable customer," she said.
* "NAVI HOPI GALLERY will be following the same principle it has in Tucson and Phoenix," said owner Leonard Garcia. The Southwest-styled jewelry-gift shop will feature a pueblo-inspired interior -- big heavy beams, cactus ribs for a simulated shaded porch and corals and turquois of the Southwest.
Garcia's stores sell "everything that Indians make," including jewelry, kachinas and pottery.
* BEYOND THE BEACH, which has a successful location at The Forum Shops, will incorporate oak and brick in its interior -- "a more sophisticated approach to the California lifestyle appeal," said Dan Goodman, the apparel chain's chief executive.
The theme is the beach, which he said has a place in the desert. "The beach is an attitude, not a location."
Of the store's 42 Western stores, Las Vegas offers the most seasonal environment for its lines, he said.
* LOCALLY OWNED M.J. Christensen, which in the 1950s had a store in Henderson, had been searching for a new location to re-establish itself in the southeast valley.
Carl Christensen, president of the family jewelry store, said the outlet will carry what Nevadans have come to expect -- quality wedding sets, gift items and watches ranging from $49.95 to more than $20,000.
* THE DISNEY STORE will be larger than others in Southern Nevada, and the in-store theme has been updated, a spokeswoman said.
"Visually, the animated elements are large Disney characters themed to look as if they are on a backstage movie set," she said. "Mickey will be the director of the show."
Other large, static, three-dimensional Disney characters will be involved in the "filming," she said.
The latest in-store theme will be carried through in new Disney stores.
Not all Galleria stores are incorporating widely used formulas.
Jim Yanders, owner of the three Java Centrale coffeehouses in Nevada, said his new location "will be an altogether different Java Centrale."
"We'll have an interesting ceiling, textures and an outdoor patio -- quite unusual for a mall."
When the mall doors are closed, customers can come in through an outdoor entrance.
Gourmet sandwiches and no-fat dessert items are also new, he said.
But one thing won't change. "We are like family to customers," he said. "Our repeat customers are our main business."
It's more than a place to stop for a cup of coffee, he said. It's a place to gather, a place to meet friends.
Design options
That's the sort of thing architect Strain would like to see more of at the Galleria.
A mall should be a ritual, he said -- "a place to be seen as well as to shop."
Restaurants should be spread out, rather than clustered within a food court, he said.
"There are a couple of malls in Santa Monica (Calif.) that open onto a pedestrian street with galleries, restaurants and constant activities."
He thinks a mall should stay active -- not just open at 9 a.m. and close at 9 p.m., "shutting down like a black box in a sea of asphalt."
And the Galleria should contain more open public spaces for spontaneous, unstaged events, he said.
"It's a one-stop pony. A nice mall, but it doesn't push the envelope."
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