The word that pops into most people's heads when they hear the city of Las Vegas mentioned is: Casinos! While gambling is a popular pastime amongst visitors and residents of Las Vegas and its environs, shopping is another major draw. After all, it's what you do when you've won money at the casino! Winning $100 at the slots will buy you a fashionable new pair of women's pants while bigger prizes mean bigger purchases. There is excellent shopping along the Vegas strip and in the surrounding areas and your North Las Vegas home is an excellent jumping-off point.
The Strip
The Las Vegas strip is where everyone starts their Las Vegas adventure, so it will be the first stopping point on our shopping tour of Las Vegas. Shops along the strip generally either belong to one or other of the casinos in order to recap some of some of the prize money they give out through winners' impulse buys. Along the strip you can buy yourself rewards ranging from sterling silver iPhone cases to diamond-studded Rolex watches. The strip is the glitziest part of Vegas, so expect to find a lot of fancy, overpriced items and brand names in its shops along with souvenirs for the tourists.
Places to shop along the strip include: Crystals, the designer-label mall where you can stock up on Louis Vuitton handbags and Tiffany's jewelry, the Encore Esplanade, the opulent home of such stores as Chanel and Hermes, the futuristic Miracle Mile, where you'll find hip young brands like Urban Outfitters, the Town Square, a quaint enclave of kid and family-friendly stores, and the Las Vegas Outlet Center, which sells brand name items at discounted prices. This is about the closest you'll get to seeing scrap gold rings or secondhand clothes on the Strip.
Malls
Shopping in Las Vegas isn't limited to the opulent retail palaces on the Strip. In fact, Las Vegas residents prefer to shop at outlying malls and leave the Strip to the tourists. Places like the Galleria at Sunset in Henderson are where you'll find North Las Vegas residents shopping for baby feeding sets and sporting goods. The Boulevard, about five miles from the strip, is Nevada's largest mall at 1.2 million acres. Sale-seekers will want to drive the 40 miles to Primm just to visit the expansive Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas. The Meadows Mall is the typical shopping center you'd find anywhere in America and MonteLago Village is an outdoor shopping center designed to look like Italy.
Specialty Shops
Antiques are popular throughout Nevada and Arizona and there are many dealers here in Las Vegas, with the biggest names clustered around the Arts District. Ethnic shoppers can find items from Scandinavia, Germany, and China in local shops while the many spas feature not just microdermabrasion treatments but also high-end creams and beauty products. Other specialty stores in Las Vegas deal in such items as: cactuses, chocolate, Barry Manilow memorabilia, psychic supplies, movie props, old clothes worn by celebrities, hand-blown glass, feathers, and showgirl costumes.
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