Dolce & Gabbana has reopened its Las Vegas boutique at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace after a four-month renovation, part of a worldwide initiative to replicate the decor of the company’s Milan flagship in most of its locations.
“Las Vegas is one of our key markets, and the store had one of our original design concepts,” said Glenn McMahon, president of Dolce & Gabbana USA. “[Now] all of the stores in the major flagship cities are of the latest generation: Milan, Paris, London, Miami, Las Vegas, New York and Los Angeles.”
The Los Angeles unit was renovated last year, increasing its selling space by 35 percent through the addition of a freestanding men’s store. The company’s three-floor New York flagship at 825 Madison Avenue will be joined by a permanent men’s store at 827 Madison Avenue, in spring 2007. Until then, a temporary men’s store is up and running at 755 Madison Avenue.
The revamped Las Vegas space features 15-foot ceilings, crystal chandeliers and a floor-to-ceiling LED screen broadcasting Dolce & Gabbana runway shows. Walls are swathed in alternating panels of black glass and mirrors, and accessories are displayed on glass and lacquered vitrines in a lounge area framed by black serpentine velvet sofas. Fixtures are rendered in brown wood in the men’s section and ebonized wood in the women’s section.
“It’s typical Dolce & Gabbana,” McMahon said. “There’s a play between the organic and the very polished.”
Among the company’s five U.S. retail stores, the 5,300-square-foot Las Vegas unit is consistently in the top three in sales. “The store is important not only domestically, but it gets a lot of international guests, as well,” McMahon said.
Outside the U.S., the company operates 51 stores, including 17 in Italy. Although there are no imminent plans to launch more retail units in the U.S., McMahon said, “We’re always looking at additional markets.”