Living Las Vegas

At Home in the City of Lights

sponsored resources

Top Vegas Hotels: Bellagio, Luxor, Rio

Roads from the Ashes: An Odyssey in Real Life on the Virtual Frontier, by Megan Edwards

Out With the Old, In With the New

I still can’t claim I’m a Vegas native, but early Tuesday morning, I took one small step closer to feeling like one. I headed to the Strip to watch the New Frontier come tumbling down. It was my third implosion since I began living in Las Vegas, and the second one I’ve attended this year.

Actually, all the natives I know stayed home. Who wants to stay up until 2:30 a.m. for the privilege of inhaling an old hotel? It’s a good question, and I hadn’t forgotten the huge noxious cloud that followed the demise of the Stardust.

Even so, I couldn’t resist. Armed with dust masks, my friends and I found a spot behind a chain link fence on Industrial Road to watch – and feel – the 16-story Atrium tower of the New Frontier crumble into history. Afterwards, we smelled it, too, but the wind was blowing eastward, and guests at the Wynn resort probably got a better whiff.

Although I can’t deny a small twinge of nostalgia these days when another old pleasure dome disappears into toxic billows, it’s easy to get distracted by all the new stuff arising from the dust. As if in direct response to the vacuum created by Frontier’s apotheosis, five new Fresh & Easy grocery stores opened in Las Vegas yesterday, along with Town Square, an enormous new shopping-dining-entertainment complex on South Las Vegas Boulevard.

The grocery stores are the first in the United States to be operated by Tesco, the UK retail giant. A string of Fresh and Easys opened in Los Angeles last week, and more are planned for San Diego and Phoenix. I visited the one near my house here in Las Vegas, eager to see whether the new store would live up to the promise of its name.

With 10,000 square feet of retail space, the store is about the size of Trader Joe’s, but there the similarity ends. Fresh & Easy is more like a cross between a supermarket and a convenience store. The aisles are stocked with just about all the types of products you’d find at a Von’s or Albertson’s, but there are fewer brands to choose from. The produce is all prepackaged, and there’s a large selection of prepared foods. The store also has a drugstore aisle, frozen foods, prepackaged meats, beverages including a nice selection of wines, several aisles of nonperishables, and a periodicals rack.

I spoke with John Burry, Fresh & Easy’s Chief Commercial Officer, who was on hand for the opening. He explained how the company spent a year coming up with the design of the new stores. In addition to ordinary market research, he said, the company built a completely stocked “dummy store” to try out their concepts on test shoppers. The goal was to create a neighborhood source for high-quality, fresh everyday grocery needs at affordable prices. Judging by the very nice cup of coffee I’m drinking as I write this, as well as the fresh ready-to-eat “berry medley” I had for breakfast, I think Fresh & Easy is aptly named. It’s a welcome addition to the grocery store lineup in Las Vegas.

Later in the day, I headed for the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sunset Road, where a beehive of activity for the last eighteen months has culminated in the unveiling of Town Square. This 117-acre shopping-dining-entertainment development will ultimately house about 150 stores and restaurants. A goodly number were open on Wednesday, including an Apple Store, Banana Republic, and H & M. Claim Jumper was the only restaurant open by lunchtime, but apologetic representatives of a restaurant called Louis’s Fish Camp were handing out menus and promising their doors would be open for dinner.

The development itself appears to be remarkably well thought out. Even though it was built all at once, the designers managed to create the feel of a town that evolved over time. A number of architectural styles are represented, from mission and art deco to contemporary. Instantly mature landscaping, mostly in the form of transplanted trees and tall palms, adds to the “been here awhile” feel. The center of the development features a children’s play area with a tree house and plenty of places to sit. Parking is plentiful, too, in multi-level garages, open air parking lots, and metered spaces directly in front of stores. Eventually, Town Square will house a Whole Foods market and a Border’s bookstore. I think these will be popular with locals and tourists alike, as will the 18-screen movie theatre complex.

It’s been quite a week here in Las Vegas. The New Frontier came crashing down, and several phoenix chicks have risen from its dust. It’s explosive evidence that Sin City is still a boomtown, and the big bang isn’t over yet.

Planning | Advice | Tips | Routes | Books | Fun!