Las Vegas Appetite for Luxury Grows - Monday 28th of November 2005
Piero Selvaggio calls it his Las Vegas experience. It was opening night at Valentino, the Venetian hotel version of his successful Santa Monica restaurant, when a high roller sent his butler to buy some wine to go with dinner. Twenty minutes later, Selvaggio had sold the man more than $4,000 worth of rare Burgundy and vintage Bordeaux.
"…And that was just the beginning. Las Vegas appetite for the luxe life has grown so ravenous in the last few years that it is stunning veterans of the hospitality industry — and nibbling away at the good life all over the country, nowhere more than in Los Angeles.
"Call it the Vegas Effect. The citys relentless demand for luxury has contributed to a rise in prices for Kobe beef and palm trees, wiped out exclusive wine stock, lured wealthy Asian tourists away from Rodeo Drive with more exclusive boutiques and kept touring Broadway shows such as Avenue Q and Spamalot out of Los Angeles.
"It is siphoning top talent and thousands of workers from throughout Southern California. And everything — from specialty produce from the Santa Monica Farmers Market to ordinary items such as toilet paper and lumber — has to be imported from somewhere, usually Southern California.
"…Las Vegas glittering shopping concourses now house so many exclusive boutiques that the L.A. luxury market looks almost second tier by comparison. When Oscar de la Renta looked west, he opened his third store in the world in Las Vegas, not L.A. The Manolo Blahnik and Dior Homme boutiques in Las Vegas are the second locations outside New York. Overall, Las Vegas experienced four times the retail and trade growth that L.A. did in the last year, according to Ross DeVol, director of regional economics at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica.
"More wealthy visitors from Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo, who are so cherished by L.A.-area tourism officials, are skipping Rodeo Drive altogether.
"…While the restaurant scene is going through a cool period in L.A., where more than a dozen trendy spots closed this fall, just about 250 miles to the east, Vegas is sizzling. The list of celebrity chefs with Vegas outposts reads like a Whos Who of the culinary world: Alain Ducasse, Daniel Boulud, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Julian Serrano, Thomas Keller, Michael Mina, Tom Colicchio, Charlie Palmer. Just this fall, French three-star chef Joel Robuchon joined the lineup at the MGM Grand. Another French three-star chef, Guy Savoy, is on the way to Caesars Palace
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