I arrived in Las Vegas on Sunday. The hotel is close to the airport\u2014just 15 minutes away. I checked into the Luxor. The room (at 39\u00a0m2) is bigger than my old apartment! Everything is huge. It\u2019s incredible. I\u2019m on the 22nd floor. When I look down, I get vertigo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The Las Vegas Strip, or just the Strip, is a 6.7\u00a0km section of the southern part of Las Vegas Boulevard. That\u2019s where the biggest hotels and casinos are.<\/span><\/p>\n So, I headed off to explore the Strip. Five hundred\u00a0meters from the hotel, I was already finding souvenir stores. I was surprised, because I could see they were hard-discount stores. For example, they were offering 4 T-shirts for $6. I went into the first store.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The first day, I got nowhere:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I was lucky in that I speak Spanish better than English, and all the sales clerks are Latino Americans.<\/span><\/p>\n There were five stores and I got the same spiel in each of them. Except the last one, where I was told that the owner was a Japanese lady who was never in the store and couldn\u2019t be contacted. So, I left the flyer and the samples. And I chatted with the sales clerk, a Mexican lady, for half an hour.<\/span><\/p>\n All the sales clerks were in fits of laughter over the samples and designs. But unfortunately, they aren\u2019t the ones making the buying decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n What took me by surprise is that you have to go through the casinos. So, I went into the casinos. It\u2019s colossal. There\u2019s a huge shopping mall in every casino. You can buy anything, especially clothes, and there are a few stores selling souvenirs.<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s music everywhere, loudspeakers everywhere. Then, on top of that, there\u2019s the music in the stores, which is really loud. You can\u2019t hear yourself speak.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I went into the huge store, Bonanza. It\u2019s an hour from the Luxor. And there, I managed to speak to a cashier. She took me back into the sales area, and said she would speak to the buyer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n She went away with the flyer I gave her, then came back saying, \u201cShe\u2019s very busy. She can\u2019t speak to you now. You\u2019ll have to come back.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I replied, \u201cI\u2019m here now. If I have to wait five hours, I\u2019ll wait five hours.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I waited around a quarter of an hour. I saw another woman come out. Her name was Martha. I explained that I was representing Callvin funny condoms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She said, \u201cYes, yes. The buyer is through there. You can go in and knock at the door.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I said, \u201cAre you sure? The other cashier told me to wait.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n To which she replied, \u201cNo, it\u2019s fine. She\u2019s all done. She\u2019ll see you now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I went into the buyer\u2019s office, another Mexican. She greeted me in a courteous and friendly manner. I showed her the condoms. I showed her the Las Vegas samples. I got everything out: the flyer, the catalogue, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She looked. The samples made her laugh. She loved the designs. But, she said, \u201cYes, I\u2019m the buyer, but only for already established products.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I was a bit disappointed, but she did give me the name of Bonanza\u2019s main buyer. I made a note of everything on my phone.<\/span><\/p>\n She told me we could contact the buyer straightaway and send her the catalogue, and especially the Las Vegas samples. However, she said they wouldn\u2019t be buying anything before the end of the year. If they bought, it would be for the next season, starting late January\/early February.<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, I\u2019d realized that Bonanza, as well as having stores on the Strip, also had stores in the old part of Las Vegas (<\/span>Downtown Las Vegas<\/span><\/i>), which was currently undergoing construction work.<\/span><\/p>\n The biggest stores also belonged to the company.<\/span><\/p>\n It was a two-hour walk, so this time I took a bus! I don\u2019t mind wearing out my shoe leather with the best of them, but there are limits!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Some store owners had confirmed that the biggest store belonged to Bonanza. That store was run by another Mexican.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The same went for the next three stores. Ultimately, there were very few independent stores. The souvenir stores are pretty much all owned by big groups.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On my last day, I went to the casinos. I\u2019m talking about the places with the famous diamond-shaped logo with \u201cWelcome to Las Vegas.\u201d They all belong to the Marshall Retail Group.<\/span><\/p>\nMonday: First Outing on the Strip<\/span><\/h2>\n
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The Las Vegas Atmosphere<\/span><\/h2>\n
Tuesday: First Promising Contact<\/span><\/h2>\n
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<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/h2>\n
Wednesday: Discovering <\/span>Downtown Las Vegas<\/span><\/i><\/h2>\n
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And Finally: The Casinos!<\/span><\/h2>\n