Ad-Tel Reservations

For a brand new shopping center on the Strip of Vegas, I fully expected nice. This is bad. It appears to be temporary cubicles set up in narrow straight lines. So it just looks like a storage warehouse. Then, there is nothing good here. Don’t waste your time in here.

I recently visited the shops and was very impressed. The people were very nice and engaging. Yes, some were on the expensive side but all and all this is a great opportunity for small business owners. I loved it. I too am a business owner who has been looking for Pop-​up retail locations. I think I will look into it further.

I really wanted to like the grand bazaar shoppes. I can see the beautiful lit up roof from my balcony at the Cosmopolitan and it was speaking to me. We went because we were going to dinner at the BLT steakhouse in the Bally’s. Wow was I disappointed. The concept is the new trend in Vegas which is to put shopping at street level for people walking by all the casinos. The only problem was that the stores were kind of expensive for what you were getting. The only one I even considered was the one with the cute doggy clothes named Celebi Paws but my dog won’t where clothes.

I’m not sure I like this Strip trend of building on every single inch of their property and adding these shopping areas. There are still a lot of empty shop spaces at the Grand Bazaar Shops. And the shops that are there aren’t really shops where I would purchase anything. None are really destination shops (as in someone would make a trip here to go to that store). And none really struck me as necessity shops either (as in a tourist might go there because they need or forgot to pack X, Y, or Z). It was rather uncrowded when I came here on a Saturday afternoon. And I didn’t really see anyone walking around with shopping bags. So is anyone actually spending money here? I enjoyed myself window shopping, but I didn’t purchase anything. There were some food places that looked good, though. Those would probably the thing that would draw me back. It’s a fine enough place to walk around and kill time. And maybe even get a bite to eat. But it’s not really a place I would go to actually shop.

This shopping area took over a landscaped shallow pool as you enter Bally’s from the strip. They may be solid buildings but it is for the most part the same kinds of hawkers you see in kiosks in shopping centers. The day I was there the elevator to get into Bally’s was broke and had a sign pointing to the also broke escalator with a sign pointing to the elevator. So the stairs it was.

Even though half the stores still were not open, we still had a fun time browsing this new shopping area. The stores are über tiny, but that is great because you can essentially window shop the entire store without even walking in. The stores were also pretty unique. It was nice to see items that you can’t find in your everyday shopping center. I’m looking forward to going back in a few months and checking it out when more stores and dining open.

While visiting Vegas for a short weekend getaway, I came by the new Grand Bazaar Shops, which is right in front of Bally’s. I am surprised to find out from some of the stores that this place barely opened up last week (Vegas truly changes from month to month).
I think it is great that this little shopping area opened up, as there really wasn’t anything here before, except for the long walkway leading to Bally’s Hotel front entrance.
But I would say that about 40−50% of the stores are still «coming soon», but I am sure the next time I come visit here (which I am sure will be in the distant future… it’s Vegas, how can I stay away?) It will be busy and booming. Anyways, with a ton of stores right next to each other, it reminded me of the Pacific mall in Canada. Most of the stores are of a very little space and most of the stores has an employee just waiting by the front door trying to get some business. There are a few stores that are 2 or even 3 times the size as the other stores, but this place for now is pretty much dead at the moment.
And the stores that are here are pretty expensive. Like one of the stores I walked into was a sock store. This store has some really fun socks (like the Superman & Batman socks have caps on the back of each pair) but the prices were pretty expensive ($ 10 – 18 for most).
There is a waffle place, The Lionesse Beauty Bar, Havaianas sandal store and such. Towards the back of one of the aisles, there is a guy who is selling his artfully talented art work made with the use of spray paints, ripped pages of the phone book, napkins and other scraps of paper (each painting is going for $ 43, includes tax).
Give this place some more time for more stores to open up, this place will be a nice place to browse around (would be nice for there to be more shade in this area though).

The concept was fantastic. A Pike Place style market smack dab in the middle of The Strip? Who wouldn’t love that, especially in comparison to the grandly underwhelming steamship entrance that fronted Bally’s in the past.
It was originally intended to open in September, but has been delayed repeatedly. About a week ago, it finally opened. Suffice to say, it wasn’t much less underwhelming than what was there in the past.
Imagine four rows of boring, yet pricey, stores not much bigger than your average mall kiosk. Unlike The Linq, the architecture and the atmosphere is quite sterile and boring. It looks nice at night, since the stained glass «roofts» gleam lights of indigo. In the daytime the roofs look like a hot mess.
Well that was disappointing.
The Final Verdict
Pros:
Fantastic concept.
Cons:
Fail-​tastic execution.
The umpteenth location of Sugar Factory on The Strip.
Everything about it is just blah.
Huh?:
You guys are aware that the daylight color scheme of the «roofs» doesn’t match the rest of Bally’s, right?
Return Factor: ⁴⁄₁₀. Maybe it might be better in the summer.

Looks good at night but weird they opened with the majority of stores not ready/​months away. Should be a decent option for low cost food on the strip once its done. Low footraffic for now