Las Vegas Hotel Shopping Arcades

• Print
• E-mail
• Add to My Trips

Back to Las VegasLas Vegas Hotel & Casino Shopping Arcades

Just about every Las Vegas hotel offers some shopping opportunities. The following have the most extensive arcades. The physical spaces of these shopping arcades are always open, but individual stores keep unpredictable hours.

Note: The Forum Shops at Caesars, the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian, and the Desert Passage at Planet Hollywood -- as much sightseeing attractions as shopping arcades -- are in the must-see category.

Bally's Avenue Shoppes consist of around 20 emporia offering, you know, stuff (kitschy card-shop knickknacks and the like).

At the Bellagio, the Via Bellagio collection of stores isn't as big as some of the other megahotel shopping arcades, but here it's definitely quality over quantity. A nice touch is a parking lot by the far entrance to Via Bellagio, so you need not navigate the great distance from Bellagio's main parking structure; instead, you can simply pop in and pick up a little something.

Caesar's Palace -- Since 1978, Caesars has had an impressive arcade of shops called the Appian Way, highlighted by an immense white Carrara-marble replica of Michelangelo's David standing more than 18 feet high. All in all, a respectable grouping of hotel shops. But in the hotel's tradition of constantly surpassing itself, in 1992 Caesars inaugurated the fabulous Forum Shops, an independently operated 375,000-square-foot Rodeo-Drive-meets-the-Roman-Empire affair complete with a 48-foot triumphal arch entranceway, a painted Mediterranean sky that changes as the day progresses from rosy-tinted dawn to twinkling evening stars, acres of marble, lofty Corinthian columns with gold capitals, and a welcoming goddess of fortune under a central dome.

Circus Circus -- There are about dozen shops between the casino and the Adventuredome, offering a wide selection of gifts and sundries, logo items, toys and games, jewelry, liquor, resort apparel for the entire family, T-shirts, homemade fudge/candy/soft ice cream, and, fittingly, clown dolls and puppets. Adjacent to the Adventuredome, there's a shopping arcade (with the usual souvenir stores and such) themed as a European village, with cobblestone walkways, fake woods, and so forth, decorated with replicas of vintage circus posters.

Excalibur -- For the most part, the shops of The Realm reflect the hotel's medieval theme. Dragon's Lair, for example, features items ranging from pewter swords and shields to full suits of armor, and Merlin's Mystic Shop carries crystals, luck charms, and gargoyles. Other shops carry more conventional wares -- gifts, candy, jewelry, women's clothing, and Excalibur logo items. And most importantly, they have a branch of that medieval staple -- Krispy Kreme Doughnuts!

The Flamingo Las Vegas -- The Crystal Court shopping promenade here accommodates men's and women's clothing/accessories stores, gift shops, and a variety of other emporia selling jewelry, beachwear, Southwestern crafts, fresh-baked goods, logo items, children's gifts, toys, and games.

Harrah's -- Harrah's has a small outdoor shopping promenade called Carnaval Court. Among the store highlights is a Ghirardelli chocolate store, a branch of the famous San Francisco-based chocolate company. This store is remarkably like a smaller version of the one in San Francisco (alas, without the vats of liquid chocolate being mixed up), and in addition to candy, you can get a variety of delicious sundaes and other ice-cream treats. Other stores include the Carnaval Market and Wine and Spirits shops, perfect for creating your own outdoor picnic feast.

Luxor -- The Giza Galleria is a 20,000-square-foot shopping arcade with eight full shops. Most of the stores emphasize clothing. Adjacent is the Cairo Bazaar, a trinket shop.

MGM Grand -- The hotel's Star Lane Shops include more than a dozen mostly pedestrian emporia lining the corridors en route from the monorail entrance. And it's here that you can still find the semibanished figures from the hotel's original Wizard of Oz diorama. Studio Walk is another shopping area adjacent to the main casino, featuring some upscale boutiques and several restaurants.

Monte Carlo -- A cobblestone arcade of retail shops, the Street of Dreams, includes several upscale clothing, timepiece, eyewear, and gift boutiques, plus a Lance Burton magic shop.

Planet Hollywood -- To our dismay, our favorite hotel-related shopping area is currently undergoing a $50-million total redo. It was inevitable, given the change of ownership and detailing of the one-time Aladdin, but that doesn't mean we have to be happy about it. The one time Desert Passage, all Middle Eastern souk themed, is getting made over with some vague, but "Miracle Mile" theme meant to invoke every high-end shopping district in any major metropolis. (Note to designers; L.A.'s own Miracle Mile lost its luster years ago; way to be on top of the trends.) Think "Madison Avenue" style, whatever that means, and a new front entrance designed to look like Times Square. Just exactly as if there isn't something like that over at New York-New York, but whatever. There should be many of the same stores, plus some new ones (including an Urban Outfitters, and a branch of L.A.'s late, lamented Trader Vic's restaurant), not to mention all kinds of loud big screens and other electronic gizmos because that's the way Vegas is these days. Interior changes will continue throughout 2007. For information, see www.desertpassage.com.

The shops are open Sunday to Thursday 10am to 11pm, Friday and Saturday 10am to midnight.

Rio -- The 60,000-square-foot Masquerade Village is a nicely executed shopping arcade at Rio. It's done as a European village, and is two stories tall, featuring a wide variety of shops, mostly selling clothes, jewelry, and gifts. One notable outlet is Nawlins, which includes "authentic" voodoo items, Mardi Gras masks, and so forth.

The Riviera -- The Riviera has a fairly extensive shopping arcade comprising art galleries, jewelers, shops specializing in women's shoes and handbags, clothing for the entire family, furs, gifts, logo items, toys, phones and electronic gadgets, and chocolates.

Stratosphere -- The internationally themed (though in a high-school production kind of way, compared to what's over at Planet Hollywood and The Venetian) second-floor Tower Shops promenade, housing more than 40 stores, is entered via an escalator from the casino. Some shops are in "Paris," along the Rue Lafayette and Avenue de l'Opéra (there are replicas of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe in this section). Others occupy Hong Kong and New York City streetscapes.

TI at the Mirage -- TI's shopping promenade is nowhere near as interesting since they took out all the pirate-themed bits. Emporia here include the TI Store (your basic hotel gift/sundry shop, also offering much pirate-themed merchandise) plus the Sirens of TI themed lingerie shop. Cirque du Soleil and Mystère logo wares are also sold in a shop near the ticket office in the hotel.

The Venetian -- After you've shopped Ancient Rome at Caesars, come to The Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian and see if shopping in Renaissance- (more or less) era Venice is any different. Oh, the shops themselves? The usual high- and medium-end brand names: Jimmy Choo, Mikimoto, Movado, Davidoff, Kenneth Cole, Ann Taylor, BCBG, bebe, Banana Republic, Rockport, and more, plus Venetian glass and paper shops. Madame Tussaud's Celebrity Encounter is also located here, and so is the Canyon Ranch Spa Club.

Wynn Las Vegas -- The Esplanade is along the same rarified lines of the Bellagio shopping area, in that it's a Euro-style-esque (love those Vegas qualifiers!) shopping street lined with pricey places with famous names -- Chanel, Cartier, Dior, Judith Leiber, Jean Paul Gaultier, Manolo Blahnik, Oscar de la Renta (his only store outside of NYC), La Flirt (a sort of mini-Sephora), Chocolat (excellent pastries and gourmet chocolates), and Jo Malone. We prefer it some to the one at Bellagio because it seems like it has just enough shops (like La Flirt) that nearly reach an average person's budget.