‘Starting to feel a little more safe,’ Las Vegas Strip visitors say
The large black Versace shopping bag held by Leo Williams was a sign the California resident started his vacation on the Strip on Friday evening.
Williams and his friends Ricky Tinney, also from Sacramento, and Sam Collier of San Francisco flew in Friday with plans to stay through Sunday. The trio chatted with their masks on as several pedestrians passed by with their masks off or pulled down to their chin.
The friends had just finished shopping and were waiting to meet more of their friends just outside the entrance of the Shops at Crystals.
“We work in health care, and we got our vaccinations (and) our friends are getting vaccinations so we’re starting to feel a little more safe,” Williams said. “We came in July for my birthday and we were super social distanced and we were wearing our masks.”
Tinney said they were unaware of the recent capacity increase to 50 percent for casinos and restaurants, which took effect Monday.
Inside the shopping center, a short line of women in fitted dresses and men wearing trendy shrunken suits could be seen waiting outside Mastro’s Ocean Club. The restaurant already appeared quite full with diners laughing and chatting away. Just below the restaurant, another line was forming with shoppers waiting to enter luxury goods store Louis Vuitton.
The crowd inside and near the luxury shopping center was more muted compared to the hoards of mostly unmasked visitors congregating near Bellagio. It may explain why Collier felt the crowd wasn’t excessive, but he also remembers what the pre-pandemic crowd.
“I feel like there were a little bit more people in July, and I think it’s funny because that was in the middle of the pandemic where this is, like, towards the end,” he said. “It’s weird. But I work in event planning, so to me this seems pretty chill for Vegas.”
Contact Subrina Hudson at shudson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @SubrinaH on Twitter.