Guinness opens its first store in Las Vegas

It was all Guinness all the time inside the Shoppes at Mandalay Place on Thursday.

The famous Irish ale opened its first U.S. retail store on St. Patrick's Day, right next door to new Irish pub Ri Ra, and a steady stream of visitors ducked into the shop to check out the merchandise.

Among the shoppers was Marc Bailey, a Toronto resident visiting on spring break with his family.

"I'm an engineer, and engineers like beer," Bailey said. "It's part of our training."

Who knew?

After indulging in two pints of Guinness at Ri Ra, Bailey stocked up on "training" materials inside the Guinness store, picking up an authentic Guinness pouring spoon for making the Black & Tan blend of pale ale and stout. He also bought a cozy to keep his Guinness cool out on the golf course. His wife, Deanna Curtis, spied a set of egg cups to add to the couple's loot. A coffee mug for a morning-after Guinness recovery phase brought the couple's total outlay to about $45.

"I think the store is great. I always knew about the spoon, but I've never been able to find one," Bailey said.

Added Curtis: "The concept is brilliant because it's different. You can find Guinness merchandise in various liquor and beer stores, but you never see all of this in one place. And having it right beside an authentic Irish pub is a selling feature."

Aside from the goods Bailey and Curtis bought, the 1,500-square-foot store stocks the usual array of promotional tchotchkes, including hats, T-shirts, key chains, Christmas ornaments, ties, refrigerator magnets and wallets.

But the space also harbors its fair share of oddities, including giant Guinness can-shaped slippers and Guinness-stamped underwear. There are Guinness candles that -- oh, the humanity! -- don't actually smell like ale. Shoppers can also snap up Guinness glass-shaped foam hand squeezers, which means it's only a matter of time before someone walks around sporting a "stress pint" in one hand and a real pint in the other. And for the double-agent Guinness fan, the store stocks combination pens and bottle-cap removers (it's the old bottle-opener-in-a-pen trick!).

Especially popular inside the store Thursday? Anything green, managers said.

Patrons shopping at the store on opening day proved that the brand has appeal beyond connoisseurs of Irish stout.

Andrew Snyder, in town from Philadelphia and staying at the Luxor, sifted through the store's apparel selection with plans to pick up a Guinness hat.

"I like Guinness as a brand, but I don't like the drink. I'm not a dark-beer person, I guess. But the brand is from Ireland, and I'm Irish," Snyder said.

Snyder's wife, Krista, looked on as she sipped a whiskey and ginger ale she'd purchased from a nearby restaurant. She also gave the thumbs-up to the retail concept, if not to the ale itself.

"Next to the Irish pub, I think it's a good idea. People like (Andrew Snyder) will see the brand. It reminds them they're Irish, so they'll want to stop in," Krista Snyder said.

Nor is Larry Cleveland a particularly big fan of Guinness.

Cleveland, visiting from Rochelle, Ill., has a close friend back home who's crazy about Guinness. Cleveland saw a story announcing the store's opening in Wednesday's Review-Journal and decided to pick up some merchandise for his buddy.

"I think it's an awfully good advertising gimmick for Guinness," Cleveland said as he perused the shirt section.

It's also a good strategy for the Shoppes at Mandalay Place, experts said.

"It's always appropriate for properties to stay current and keep adding new concepts," said John Knott, executive vice president of CB Richard Ellis in Las Vegas and head of the commercial brokerage's Global Gaming Group. "It gives the customers something they haven't seen before. It's nice to see the properties continue to invest in themselves."

Also set to invest more money in the local economy are Bailey and Curtis. The couple brought their school-age children with them on this trip, but they plan to be back sans kids, and they said they'll hit Mandalay Place's Guinness nexus again.

"We did the PG version this time. We'll do the adult version next time," Bailey said. "Definitely more Guinness -- and other assorted beverages."

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.