Shopping for Discounts

My athletic shoes had seen better days, and I was meaning to replace them. Aha, an idea! I could introduce folks, via video, to Las Vegas Premium Outlets South. I could also visit the SAS store there which is where I purchased my last walking shoes.

Indeed, if one is a knowledgeable shopper, bargains can be had at both Las Vegas shopping centers known as Las Vegas Premium Outlets. My visit was to the south outlets at 7400 S. Las Vegas Boulevard. The shopping center opened in 1993 and was known as the Belz Factory Outlet Mall. It was purchased by the Simon Property Group in 2003 and the name changed. Major Las Vegas renovations, introduced in 2011, brought the total square footage of the shopping center to 535,000 square feet. Today, 140 stores find their home at Las Vegas Premium Outlets South. Buses can bring visitors to the shopping center from downtown and from the Strip. Shopping center hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Sunday hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Many major retail and designer names have stores in the shopping center and almost all advertise sales. However, caution is always the word. I have written and talked in the past about overpriced cosmetics and was not pleased to see, in a prominent hallway location, young folks selling Dermalactives cosmetics. From the past experience of a friend, all I can say is: beware.

Other than seeing the over-priced cosmetics desk, I enjoyed walking the shopping center hallways which I hadn’t visited in several years. The stores facing the parking lot are quite an improvement to the facade, and inside, I did not see empty stores — quite a successful shopping destination. The Simon Property Group which owns the Las Vegas Premium Outlets also owns the Caesars Palace Forum Shops and other shopping destinations throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico and Malaysia.

The Urologist and Privacy

This week was a week in which a family member of mine visited a urologist. The waiting room at a urologist’s office is often crowded with older gentlemen. The part of the male anatomy that is so important to boys that they take pictures of it or men sign up for liaisons with women other than their wives does eventually have problems…. or at least starts to be less reliable. As I found out, guys in waiting rooms don’t seem reluctant at all to talk about their problems. I was sitting next to a complete stranger who was talking with my family member about the man’s problem, frequent urination. This stranger was sitting very close to me because the waiting room was crowded. All of a sudden, he started talking (and he wasn’t whispering) about surgery to attempt to help his problem. “What the doctor didn’t tell me,” he said, “was to put Vaseline on the tip of my…..(he used the correct term) and because of that I got a sore.”

The older I get the more I have to laugh when doctors and hospitals make us sign statements about patient privacy. After a certain age, folks will tell strangers anything!

July Numbers
McCarran International Airport said its traffic “soared” this July, with an 8.8 percent increase in air traffic over a year ago — good news for the local tourist industry. Year-to-date, air traffic has increased 4.5 percent with 26,089,232 passengers arriving and departing Las Vegas.

Southwest remains the carrier with the most passengers, year-to-date almost 10 million people. Southwest carries more passengers to and from Las Vegas than Delta, United, Spirit and American airlines combined.